[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

When I say texts I include the oral transmission of information. Printed texts have indeed been locked down throughout the ages, up to and including the present time (copyright).

An oral text is an oxymoron. But my all means, memorize all the text you want and recite them. Copyright is not analogous to handwritten texts being locked away. Copyrighted books are available to anyone, you just have to buy them.

I think the idea that without copyright the creation of texts would cease is a false one. What we would definitely obtain is the creation of a literature whose creation for monetary purposes would be somewhat lower on the list of priorities for the texts creation.

But you already have that. There are plenty of books that the author offers for free. You don't want those books, you are demanding that the author wrote expecting to make a living from.

Without copyright, the only books written would be those where the author didn't care about making a living from the books. The books that you want would be gone. Thus, by arguing against copyright, you shout from the mountaintops about the effectiveness of copyright in bringing us the books we want.

We cannot know beforehand which text is most crucial for us to read at any point in time or space, therefore it is crucial that we have unlimited access to all texts, just to be sure.

That doesn't logically follow from anything.

In the past this idea would have seemed insane, oral transmission of ideas required the transmitter to travel, written words required the writer to laboriously write out each text individually, the printing press allowed a limited number of copies to be made of each text, the digital allows an infinite number of people to access a text instantaneously.

The idea that we should have access to everything is no longer insane and in fact it is a quite realizable one.

Yes, it is easier to copy and transmit data. That in no way implies that we should have every book for free. That is like saying that we should have free airplane tickets, because travel has become so much cheaper and faster.

If no text can be sold, it would be simple to send the monies from those that are bought directly to the creator, instead of to unaffiliated third parties, megaupload etal.

WHAT money? If text aren't sold, where does the money come from?