3 ms·

I think another analogy can be better. Imagine I want to fly somewhere, plane is half empty, I am going there and sitting. Don’t have ticket. (Imagining no enf

I think another analogy can be better. Imagine I want to fly somewhere, plane is half empty, I am going there and sitting. Don’t have ticket. (Imagining no enforcement) Should I? Eventually this plane will fly there, my effect on cost is ignorable, I will be better, airline will not be worse.

bawolff 6y ago
I think this is an interesting analogy (maybe even better would be bus fare for a city bus). However marginal cost is not zero for the airline. Fuel costs money. There are limited seats on the plane. The marginal cost of copying a digital book is actually zero. However, even if marginal cost was 0 (lets say a movie theatre that is empty), it does somehow still seem wrong if its physical in a way i can't easily distinguish from the digital case. I suppose maybe the difference is, that if i own a piece of land, i should have the right to prevent trespassing so i can enjoy the land without being harrased. Being able to charge admission is an extension of that. But the intellectual case, someone reading my book doesnt prevent me from enjoying reading my book myself.
- bluesign 6y ago
  Problem is audience, if we had unlimited number audience, maybe marginal cost would be zero. In current situation, cost of production (including labor), is shared with intended audience. Imagine a edge case, I am writing a book to a very specific audience, lets say only 100 people would be interested. I spent lets say 100 usd. So basically cost for each reader will be 1 usd. Or maybe you developing a SaaS app, would you be ok if I pay only my marginal cost? Even the marginal cost of production/copying is zero, actual cost is not. (edit: removed second marginal)
  - bawolff 6y ago
    > Even the marginal cost of production/copying is zero, actual marginal cost is not. ??? I'm confused. You seem to be redefining the term marginal cost to mean the opposite of what its normal definition is.
    - bluesign 6y ago
      Sorry for confusion, second marginal was mistake, I meant even marginal cost is zero, actual cost is not. My main point is even marginal cost is zero, there is another cost ignored (saas service example) If you are ok with to pay 0 when marginal cost is 0, you should be ok to pay X when marginal cost is X. Then this justifies for you to pay marginal cost only. So if we move to physical world, I can say I paid for one iPhone, but if marginal cost of iPhone is half price, so If I bought one, I can steal one.

bawolff 6y ago

I think this is an interesting analogy (maybe even better would be bus fare for a city bus). However marginal cost is not zero for the airline. Fuel costs money. There are limited seats on the plane. The marginal cost of copying a digital book is actually zero. However, even if marginal cost was 0 (lets say a movie theatre that is empty), it does somehow still seem wrong if its physical in a way i can't easily distinguish from the digital case. I suppose maybe the difference is, that if i own a piece of land, i should have the right to prevent trespassing so i can enjoy the land without being harrased. Being able to charge admission is an extension of that. But the intellectual case, someone reading my book doesnt prevent me from enjoying reading my book myself.

bluesign 6y ago
Problem is audience, if we had unlimited number audience, maybe marginal cost would be zero. In current situation, cost of production (including labor), is shared with intended audience. Imagine a edge case, I am writing a book to a very specific audience, lets say only 100 people would be interested. I spent lets say 100 usd. So basically cost for each reader will be 1 usd. Or maybe you developing a SaaS app, would you be ok if I pay only my marginal cost? Even the marginal cost of production/copying is zero, actual cost is not. (edit: removed second marginal)
- bawolff 6y ago
  > Even the marginal cost of production/copying is zero, actual marginal cost is not. ??? I'm confused. You seem to be redefining the term marginal cost to mean the opposite of what its normal definition is.
  - bluesign 6y ago
    Sorry for confusion, second marginal was mistake, I meant even marginal cost is zero, actual cost is not. My main point is even marginal cost is zero, there is another cost ignored (saas service example) If you are ok with to pay 0 when marginal cost is 0, you should be ok to pay X when marginal cost is X. Then this justifies for you to pay marginal cost only. So if we move to physical world, I can say I paid for one iPhone, but if marginal cost of iPhone is half price, so If I bought one, I can steal one.