[extropy-chat] finding old (and new) sf

[Samantha Atkins]

On Jul 2, 2005, at 6:18 PM, Joseph Bloch wrote:

> Outstanding. Come the fall, I might just get one and start  
> converting my ginormous collection of paperbacks to digital.
>
> One word of caution to those who might be interested in doing the  
> same; with the recent SCOTUS rulings about copyright and such, it  
> might be worthwhile to retain some sort of proof of right to own  
> such digital copies.
>

What is needed is a means to pay creators of information,  
entertainment and so on that can be digitally (or equivalent)  
rendered AND make all of that information available to everyone (with  
some security caveats).  By so doing will we attain maximum extropy  
increment derivable from maximizing these information flows.    Among  
the benefits are:

1) Information will be maximally used to the benefit of all;

2) Eventually the creators are more directly rewarded than today;

3) People are not made criminals by the agents of media companies and  
other middlemen for maximizing their lives and happiness using the  
technology.

4) Innovators and future creators  need not fear.;

5) Innovation will be maximized.

So how could such a thing be done?

If there was a sufficiently large pool of funds, say the size of the  
current amount spent for year on such information and entertainment,  
and a means simply to reliably count how often that information is  
used,  then the creator or rights holder would get a percentage of  
the total pool based no some function applied to the usage count and  
various measurements describing qualities of the information.    The  
pool might be maintained by a low subscription fee or through (ugh)  
taxes.    Thus you have a commons that rewards producers, is not only  
not being depleted but is growing richer and it supports maximal  
information flow.

Thoughts?

- samantha