Access to Knowledge: YEA or NAY

[QuantumIguana]

I suppose you can imagine a world without money, but such a world is not our world. Solutions for some other world only apply in that world. And in a world without money, the Book Commissar cannot distribute tax money to the authors it selects, because there would be no money to distribute.

[mrscoach]

We keep forgetting, his world is outside our universe looking in at us.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by mrscoach

We keep forgetting, his world is outside our universe looking in at us.

Apparently he is looking in some other direction....

[The Terminator]

Since you wan't to do away with money, why not give it too the authors?



And seriously, Wikipedia has pretty much all the knowledge known to man (hey, I've never had a search come up empty).

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Nonsense. There is no such thing as buying without selling. If I can't sell, you can't possibly buy.

You can upload to the network, whether or not anyone will choose to pay is entirely up to them. What you will not be able to do is tell someone that you have uploaded but then force them to pay you before allowing them access to your uploaded text.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

You can upload to the network, whether or not anyone will choose to pay is entirely up to them. What you will not be able to do is tell someone that you have uploaded but then force them to pay you before allowing them access to your uploaded text.

Good luck with getting anyone to write in your slave society.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

Your book commissar flaw depends on our society not being able to compensate authors without a paywall forcing them to do so. Meaning you think people won't pay for books that they can download for free. Nevermind all that gibberish about people not placing value on things that they don't spend money on, that's just 20th century psychobabble.

Yes, because Marx's labor theory of value worked so much better.

It is possible that we could, in terms of entertainment and information, be entering a post scarcity world (i.e. where the supply is so great that demand can never be large enough to create scarcity and lack of demand doesn't cause a constraint in supply). That being said, we are not there yet. Nor do I see us entering that world through the model you are suggesting.

What I assert is that authors shouldn't be able to sell books, readers will still be able to buy of course, and so authors will be paid. This is called a free market.

Emphasis on free, since most people will not pay for that which they can get for free.

--
Bill

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

You can upload to the network, whether or not anyone will choose to pay is entirely up to them. What you will not be able to do is tell someone that you have uploaded but then force them to pay you before allowing them access to your uploaded text.

Where in the world as we know it can you do this honestly and legitimately. Can I go into any business and acquire a product without paying unless the business specifically allows me to do this? Can I walk into your house and take your toilet paper because I wish to do so? Toilet paper is pretty intangible IMO. Use it once and you alter it's properties so you don't want to see it again. Still I perhaps should have access to your toilet paper and your internet connection which is more intangible still even if you are paying for it.

Your paycheck is pretty intangible as well, often not even printed on paper but uploaded to the network. Should I have access to that?

Helen

[DiapDealer]

Where in the world as we know it can you do this honestly and legitimately.

RealLife 2.0. Gigglesworld. Herman's Head (there's obscure for ya).

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Where in the world as we know it can you do this honestly and legitimately.

Helen

We are going to have to create this world, and it will probably take some time.

[DiapDealer]

Let me know when you're done—I'll come visit. I assume the standard "click your heels three times" method will get me there?

[AndrewH]

Originally Posted by Giggleton

We are going to have to create this world, and it will probably take some time.

Why? Other than fulfilling some communist ideal of yours.

[Freeshadow]

Gig If you 'd spent half the energy you put in insisting that authors are a worthless clump of parias unworthy of being paid for what they do in begging you would be able to buy all the books your spare time would allow you to consume

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Let me know when you're done—I'll come visit. I assume the standard "click your heels three times" method will get me there?

Don't forget your ruby slippers, Dorothy.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

Gig If you 'd spent half the energy you put in insisting that authors are a worthless clump of parias unworthy of being paid for what they do in begging you would be able to buy all the books your spare time would allow you to consume

I don't think it is just authors that don't deserve to be paid according to Giggleton. Musicians, software engineers, artists, etc. also fall into the same category as authors.