> Software is not a scarce resource; once it has been created, it can be easily defined as non-scarce. And before it has been created, if there is sufficient need for it, someone will pay to have it created.
Ummm...creation is not a trivial process. As I said before, there is no software fairy creating new software. Who decides what is the proper compensation for creation? The creators! Not some political goon.
> And this is exactly why rivalrous goods are different. We have (most of us) decided that we agree they need to be granted “property” status.
Um... software has the same legal rights as land. So there is no difference.
Just because X is different from Y in aspect A does not mean we should treat X differently in all aspects from Y.
>However, I do not think that defining software, ideas or other information as a non-ownable non-property would be “barbarianism and anarchy”. If you think so, please elaborate.
We won't devolve into anarchy, but we will devolve into Soviet-style bleakness.
The creators of software, ideas and information do decide the price of their services. The “political goons” decide, however, if the software, ideas and information itself, once created, should possess the status of property.
I am arguing the side that claims that these non-rivalrous goods like software, ideas and information should be changed to no longer be considered property and have owners. I have demonstrated that there are compelling arguments why their status as property has downsides, and why eliminating their being owned should, at least, have no appreciable downsides, and could potentially be a boon to all society. You, however, seem to argue that since software, ideas and information are legally considered property (at least some of them, some of the time, in different forms), they are property. But this would be assuming that the law is correct, and you can’t do that, since this is the question to be resolved.
I would still like to know why and how we will “devolve into Soviet-style bleakness” if software and ideas would no longer be granted property status. As a comparison, you could look at the clothing industry. There are no ownerships of patterns or designs there, but the industry continue to be needed and people are still paid to produce clothes. The odd cases of illegal copies you hear about are about trademark law, i.e. things fraudulently claiming to be a particular brand, but this is an issue of fraud and consumer protection against low-quality knockoffs, not a design or pattern property issue, since the designs of clothes are not property.
Ummm...creation is not a trivial process. As I said before, there is no software fairy creating new software. Who decides what is the proper compensation for creation? The creators! Not some political goon.
> And this is exactly why rivalrous goods are different. We have (most of us) decided that we agree they need to be granted “property” status.
Um... software has the same legal rights as land. So there is no difference.
Just because X is different from Y in aspect A does not mean we should treat X differently in all aspects from Y.
>However, I do not think that defining software, ideas or other information as a non-ownable non-property would be “barbarianism and anarchy”. If you think so, please elaborate.
We won't devolve into anarchy, but we will devolve into Soviet-style bleakness.