> Intellectual property is impossible. It's obvious that intellectual property is a social and legal construct, because the things considered property are inta

> Intellectual property is impossible. It's obvious that intellectual property is a social and legal construct, because the things considered property are intangible, but all other forms of property are also social and legal constructs. Property is not merely possession -- it is the recognition by society and by the law that you have a right to possess things, and that those rights include preventing people from taking the things you possess. If you look at the history of property rights in land, which are among the oldest and most fundamental property rights, you'll see how incredibly complicated they became, and how much they have changed over time, and how much of what we think is "just the way things are" is relatively new and does not exist for the reasons we think it does. The legacy of feudal land tenure in modern legal systems is a good example.