[ExI] Intellectual Property — A Libertarian Critique

[Stefano Vaj]

On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 6:47 AM, Emlyn <emlynoregan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Intellectual Property — A Libertarian Critique
>
> tl;dr, but it looks interesting.
>
> http://c4ss.org/content/521
> "In this study, Kevin Carson reviews libertarian perspectives on
> “intellectual property”; the ethics of the practice itself and the
> harms resulting from it. He finds that IP is an artificial, rather
> than natural, property right.

I am always amazed how much some libertarian thinkers owe to religious
biases, such as a view of law based not on political choices of a
given community based on its chosen goals, but rather what "nature"
would dictate.

Intellectual property is only a tool, no less and no more than land
property or toothbrush property. In particular, it has been
established in order to provide remuneration to R&D research
investment which would be otherwise prevented by a typical "free ride"
unraveling. Now, there are no doubts that today it may hinder here and
there innovation more than stimulate it (as latifundium used to reduce
agricultural output). But *this* is the issue that needs to be
discussed.

In particular, why transhumanists of all possibile people should care
about what is "natural" and what is not?

-- 
Stefano Vaj