4 ms·

I agree with him on those points. Where I disagree is when he suggests that taxes should be used to pay authors. It is difficult to justify that in the name of

by noarchy 15y ago

I agree with him on those points. Where I disagree is when he suggests that taxes should be used to pay authors. It is difficult to justify that in the name of "freedom", imo.

Natsu 15y ago
It's also somewhat dangerous. I can't remember the details, but there are places where you, effectively, can't give away your own work for free because the government is trying to protect you.
esrauch 15y ago
It seems like this identical argument was made when the first tax-paid public libraries were opened, and yet very few people seem to be anti-public library today.
- hnal943 15y ago
  Actually, I have a harder time finding people that still see libraries as necessary. The internet has pretty much met everyone's need for the information and entertainment the library provided, and then some.
  - noarchy 15y ago
    This probably depends on how arcane your research topic is. There are sources out there that have not been digitized, and this may require one to go hunting for some old, dusty tome. But this is all part of the evolution of how we get our information. More and more, I expect to see newer books go straight to digital formats, with dead-tree versions becoming a bit like vinyl records. Used book stores will sell things that are out of print, and things that were never converted into a digital format. Edit: I forgot to mention that some libraries already offer borrowing of eBooks. So some of them have seen the direction of things, and instead of resisting, are adapting.
  - scraplab 15y ago
    I completely disagree. Libraries, in the UK at least, are a fantastic resource for the poor and marginalised. To see our current government's attempts to shut them down is saddening.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
davidw 15y ago
"Our tax dollars are paying for WHAT?!" would, IMO, slowly (or even quickly) erode the list of "approved" topics and authors. And of course gaming the system would be worth a significant amount of money. Also: tax dollars are a per-country thing, whereas popularity is often global. It would make sense for countries to try and free-ride and get other countries' books for free and pay their authors nothing. For instance Australia could happily pay nothing to authors and let the US and UK pay them.

by noarchy 15y ago

I agree with him on those points. Where I disagree is when he suggests that taxes should be used to pay authors. It is difficult to justify that in the name of "freedom", imo.

Natsu 15y ago

It's also somewhat dangerous. I can't remember the details, but there are places where you, effectively, can't give away your own work for free because the government is trying to protect you.

esrauch 15y ago

It seems like this identical argument was made when the first tax-paid public libraries were opened, and yet very few people seem to be anti-public library today.

hnal943 15y ago
Actually, I have a harder time finding people that still see libraries as necessary. The internet has pretty much met everyone's need for the information and entertainment the library provided, and then some.
- noarchy 15y ago
  This probably depends on how arcane your research topic is. There are sources out there that have not been digitized, and this may require one to go hunting for some old, dusty tome. But this is all part of the evolution of how we get our information. More and more, I expect to see newer books go straight to digital formats, with dead-tree versions becoming a bit like vinyl records. Used book stores will sell things that are out of print, and things that were never converted into a digital format. Edit: I forgot to mention that some libraries already offer borrowing of eBooks. So some of them have seen the direction of things, and instead of resisting, are adapting.
- scraplab 15y ago
  I completely disagree. Libraries, in the UK at least, are a fantastic resource for the poor and marginalised. To see our current government's attempts to shut them down is saddening.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

davidw 15y ago

"Our tax dollars are paying for WHAT?!" would, IMO, slowly (or even quickly) erode the list of "approved" topics and authors. And of course gaming the system would be worth a significant amount of money. Also: tax dollars are a per-country thing, whereas popularity is often global. It would make sense for countries to try and free-ride and get other countries' books for free and pay their authors nothing. For instance Australia could happily pay nothing to authors and let the US and UK pay them.