See, again you are using a definition of real that suits you. This doesn't mean it's correct or even that it makes sense. What your argument boils down to is: "

See, again you are using a definition of real that suits you. This doesn't mean it's correct or even that it makes sense. What your argument boils down to is: "Thoughts are not real". Is that a really a stand that you want to take? edit: Maybe I should give you an abundantly clear example of how your interpretation of reality is wrong: Imagine two businessmen come to you with the same idea, but you can only give one of them funding. Did the other man lose anything tangible? No, all that money was never real by your definition. For him it was hypothetical money. But no one in their right minds would argue that the second man didn't lose anything. The same way software pirates argue: "We aren't taking away anything. There was never any real money to begin with." That may be, but they lost the opportunity to make money which is just as real.