Quote:
Originally Posted by Namekuseijin
I think knowledge ought to be free, even when the result of years of intense funded research.
That's not the case for art, though. No one funds art, art is not useful to anyone: "All art is quite useless", as Oscar Wilde promptly noticed. Artists make a living from selling their dreams. Why is it ok for a baker to sell something you can do youself in your cheap hitech kitchen but it is not ok for an artist to sell something you can cheaply copy in your hitech home?
Why is it ok to pay to feed the body but it is not ok to pay to feed the soul?
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In the UK in the 1970s you could apply for a grant to be an artist. It didn't pay much, but it was enough for basic living costs. It covered all forms of art, including performance art (happenings and the like), but excluded "commercial" art (like writing books or graphic design). The Arts Council still exists, but now all the money goes to people and organisations that don't really need it.