[Jaime_Astorga]

And it isn't barbaric at all to say "I really don't give a toss how much time and effort you put in, I want it for free and so I'm going to get it for free no matter what I have to do"?(discounting fair use policy, libraries etc which are concepts already agreed to by the author)

"Agreed?" More like things they can't do anything about because they are allowed by law!

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

So there's no room for "incentive" in modern economics? Nowhere is it written that a producer is supposed to profit from their work? Or are we just staying conveniently mum about the chapters that describe whip-cracking slave workers and indentured servitude?

"Incentives" is certainly a valid concern, though that's about practicality and not what is "right." It is most certainly written nowhere that a producer is "supposed" to profit from their work, the fact that they often do not withstanding. Slavery and indentured servitude fit perfectly with economic models, where allowed by law; I do not see how this enters into the discussion.

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Yes: With no way for a publisher to be fairly paid for them (since they're "free" now), they too will disappear from bookstores and other outlets, leaving the bookstores with nothing to sell but the few books written by those who "love to write"... no matter what the quality. ("Oh, joy: Another teenage vampire romance short story by 'Francey.' My day is made.")

So bookstores will go out of business with publishers. Amazon will be left selling everything except books, because there will be no profit market from them.

Trust me: You don't want to see a world where authors don't get paid.

The vast majority of works written in the thousands of years of human history are free now, having been into what is now termed the "public domain" for centuries. Yet publishers of older works have still been able to make a profit from selling physical copies of the information which they have edited and typesetted. The fact that I can look up the entirety Hamlet online has not made it vanish from bookstores, and neither will it, at least until e-Readers become as commonplace as cellphones. And even then, physical copies of books will probably always remain a niche market.