[ExI] intellectual property again

[moulton at moulton.com]

On Wed, 2010-03-10 at 00:03 -0500, JOSHUA JOB wrote:
On Mar 9, 2010, at 8:49 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
> 
> >  Who decides what is right and wrong, and how? Who defines "justly
> > acquired", "harm", "initiate force"? You?
> 
> It is based on principles that can be derived, in principle, by anyone,
> as it is simply philosophy. 

But being "simply philosophy" does not mean that it is simple.  And to make the obvious point different people derive different answers to the big questions about rights, etc.  Let us avoid over simplification.

> As for who decides in general, that would be a government, in any big society. 
That is one thing which has been tried but it is certainly not the only possibility.  

> Property rights are codified for all to see in law (so there is no ambiguity
> on the guiding principles), harm and force are mediated by police and courts,
> etc.

I have read many documents in my life and I can not think of a single one which dealt with complex social issues which did not have some ambiguity.  So as I mentioned above let us be careful and void over simplification.

Fred