4 ms·

Ideas Want to Be Shared

57 points by exrook 5y ago

qnsi 5y ago
I think we should just abolish all patents https://web.archive.org/web/20120329153458/https://www.patenthawk.com/blog/2011/08/abolish_patents.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120329153458/https://www.paten...
- disintegore 5y ago
  It was never more than a patchwork attempt to force the market economy where it didn't belong
csbartus 5y ago
I guess this is already happening in web development, at least, but we’ve seen in operating systems and perhaps everywhere code (GPT-3] And if software eats the world, perhaps it will eat patents, too,
uniqueuid 5y ago
Just as a comment for anyone new enough to not remember the historical background: The title is alluding to the famous quote "information wants to be free" by Steward Brand. The full quote famously includes the opposite as well, because information "wants to be expensive because it's so valuable". Kevin Kelly as an early collaborator of Brand of course knows this intimately. There is a wonderful and very insightful book on Brand, by the way, called "From Counterculture to Cyberculture" by Fred Turner. [1] [1] https://fredturner.stanford.edu/books/from-counterculture-to-cyberculture/ https://fredturner.stanford.edu/books/from-counterculture-to...
DoreenMichele 5y ago
I don't know the solution. I don't know how we determine a better solution. I do know that once you publicly share an idea without somehow copyrighting it, people will run with it and the originator can get badly screwed financially by people talented at essentially intellectual theft and lining their own pockets who have an absence of ethics and are too stupid to see that screwing their source is not in their long-term best interest.
- soperj 5y ago
  And with patents no one who originates an idea gets screwed?
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    I said no such thing. Please don't put words in my mouth.
    - soperj 5y ago
      I didn't. It was a question.
      - DoreenMichele 5y ago
        The article under discussion covers the fact that patents aren't perfect in that regard. They cover the first person who stakes their claim, which may not actually be the originator.
- cwkoss 5y ago
  Accept that ideas are low value. If you love the idea, set it free.
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    My time, knowledge and expertise in developing an idea is not cheap and I need to eat. A local organization has been stealing my ideas and actively shafting me for absolutely no reason other than they are awful people. They nominally do economic development. I was happy to freely provide ideas but I did expect it to be a networking opportunity and a means to build my professional reputation and local contacts and thereby enhance my income. That has not happened. I quit going to meetings because I was tired of their abusive treatment of me and now they cyber stalk me and continue to steal my ideas, give me zero credit, etc so some local cretin and his awful bosses can pretend they are worth the money that the city pays them. I am getting nothing out of this at all. They can't even be bothered to tell people where they get their ideas so my reputation would be enhanced. I continue to be dirt poor. I have done everything in my power to play by the rules as I understand them and the result remains the same both online and off: People think I'm wonderful. They think I have great ideas. They also think I should do everything out of the goodness of my heart instead of for pay and everyone turns a deaf ear to the fact that I am dirt poor, going hungry and desperately need more earned income. I have a real problem here, your platitudes not withstanding.
emrah 5y ago
> Accept that ideas are low value. If you love the idea, set it free. I disagree. Value of an idea is on a scale too. Some ideas are more obvious than others because the evidence required to evaluate it is more readily available. Therefore, they are not terribly valuable since a lot of people can and do act on them. Some ideas are valuable yet hidden from most because the context to evaluate them properly is not readily available. Some ideas are valuable for some yet unpursuable because of existing systems and ideologies in place (aka Innovator's Dilemma) In short, "ideas are worthless" became a meme but it's extremely distilled. There is a lot more nuance to it

57 points by exrook 5y ago

qnsi 5y ago

I think we should just abolish all patents https://web.archive.org/web/20120329153458/https://www.patenthawk.com/blog/2011/08/abolish_patents.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120329153458/https://www.paten...

disintegore 5y ago
It was never more than a patchwork attempt to force the market economy where it didn't belong

csbartus 5y ago

I guess this is already happening in web development, at least, but we’ve seen in operating systems and perhaps everywhere code (GPT-3] And if software eats the world, perhaps it will eat patents, too,

uniqueuid 5y ago

Just as a comment for anyone new enough to not remember the historical background: The title is alluding to the famous quote "information wants to be free" by Steward Brand. The full quote famously includes the opposite as well, because information "wants to be expensive because it's so valuable". Kevin Kelly as an early collaborator of Brand of course knows this intimately. There is a wonderful and very insightful book on Brand, by the way, called "From Counterculture to Cyberculture" by Fred Turner. [1] [1] https://fredturner.stanford.edu/books/from-counterculture-to-cyberculture/ https://fredturner.stanford.edu/books/from-counterculture-to...

DoreenMichele 5y ago

I don't know the solution. I don't know how we determine a better solution. I do know that once you publicly share an idea without somehow copyrighting it, people will run with it and the originator can get badly screwed financially by people talented at essentially intellectual theft and lining their own pockets who have an absence of ethics and are too stupid to see that screwing their source is not in their long-term best interest.

soperj 5y ago
And with patents no one who originates an idea gets screwed?
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  I said no such thing. Please don't put words in my mouth.
  - soperj 5y ago
    I didn't. It was a question.
    - DoreenMichele 5y ago
      The article under discussion covers the fact that patents aren't perfect in that regard. They cover the first person who stakes their claim, which may not actually be the originator.
cwkoss 5y ago
Accept that ideas are low value. If you love the idea, set it free.
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  My time, knowledge and expertise in developing an idea is not cheap and I need to eat. A local organization has been stealing my ideas and actively shafting me for absolutely no reason other than they are awful people. They nominally do economic development. I was happy to freely provide ideas but I did expect it to be a networking opportunity and a means to build my professional reputation and local contacts and thereby enhance my income. That has not happened. I quit going to meetings because I was tired of their abusive treatment of me and now they cyber stalk me and continue to steal my ideas, give me zero credit, etc so some local cretin and his awful bosses can pretend they are worth the money that the city pays them. I am getting nothing out of this at all. They can't even be bothered to tell people where they get their ideas so my reputation would be enhanced. I continue to be dirt poor. I have done everything in my power to play by the rules as I understand them and the result remains the same both online and off: People think I'm wonderful. They think I have great ideas. They also think I should do everything out of the goodness of my heart instead of for pay and everyone turns a deaf ear to the fact that I am dirt poor, going hungry and desperately need more earned income. I have a real problem here, your platitudes not withstanding.

emrah 5y ago

> Accept that ideas are low value. If you love the idea, set it free. I disagree. Value of an idea is on a scale too. Some ideas are more obvious than others because the evidence required to evaluate it is more readily available. Therefore, they are not terribly valuable since a lot of people can and do act on them. Some ideas are valuable yet hidden from most because the context to evaluate them properly is not readily available. Some ideas are valuable for some yet unpursuable because of existing systems and ideologies in place (aka Innovator's Dilemma) In short, "ideas are worthless" became a meme but it's extremely distilled. There is a lot more nuance to it