6 ms·

How long before greed is literally evolved out of our brains?

by dvtrn 5y ago

mschuster91 5y ago
We're humans. We can dis-incentivize greed through legal frameworks - taxes on speculative assets or on patents that are not used or fairly licensed by the owners, for example.
- sbarre 5y ago
  This is probably more complicated than it sounds. What consists of "not used" or "fairly licensed"? Who decides this, and how do those definitions evolve over time? Like most legal frameworks they would likely lag behind the reality of the times they are applied to... I'm all for trying to prevent abuses and patent trolls and the like, but it's not as easy to solve as it might seem.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    Sure, but we could set at least some basic parameters, e.g. "not used" = "has not been used in an actually available product in the last five years" and "fairly licensed" = "the patent holder has listed a process and conditions under which the patent can be licensed, there exists a mediation process in case an applicant deems the fees/conditions to be excessive, and there are no complaints filed at the regulatory agency about unfair treatment".
    - sbarre 5y ago
      > has not been used in an actually available product in the last five years What if the production cycle is longer than 5 years? > the patent holder has listed a process and conditions under which the patent can be licensed, there exists a mediation process in case an applicant deems the fees/conditions to be excessive, and there are no complaints filed at the regulatory agency about unfair treatment This sounds like something that everyone would dispute, and there would be a years-long waiting list for mediation. I agree with you in principle, but I just think it wouldn't work.
- tasha0663 5y ago
  > taxes You've just moved the greed from one place to another.
__MatrixMan__ 5y ago
Well, if we start killing the greedy ones now, perhaps in a few thousand years. Or we can just find non-evolutionary ways to keep it in check.

How long before greed is literally evolved out of our brains?

by dvtrn 5y ago

How long before greed is literally evolved out of our brains?

We're humans. We can dis-incentivize greed through legal frameworks - taxes on speculative assets or on patents that are not used or fairly licensed by the owners, for example.

sbarre 5y ago
This is probably more complicated than it sounds. What consists of "not used" or "fairly licensed"? Who decides this, and how do those definitions evolve over time? Like most legal frameworks they would likely lag behind the reality of the times they are applied to... I'm all for trying to prevent abuses and patent trolls and the like, but it's not as easy to solve as it might seem.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  Sure, but we could set at least some basic parameters, e.g. "not used" = "has not been used in an actually available product in the last five years" and "fairly licensed" = "the patent holder has listed a process and conditions under which the patent can be licensed, there exists a mediation process in case an applicant deems the fees/conditions to be excessive, and there are no complaints filed at the regulatory agency about unfair treatment".
  - sbarre 5y ago
    > has not been used in an actually available product in the last five years What if the production cycle is longer than 5 years? > the patent holder has listed a process and conditions under which the patent can be licensed, there exists a mediation process in case an applicant deems the fees/conditions to be excessive, and there are no complaints filed at the regulatory agency about unfair treatment This sounds like something that everyone would dispute, and there would be a years-long waiting list for mediation. I agree with you in principle, but I just think it wouldn't work.
tasha0663 5y ago
> taxes You've just moved the greed from one place to another.

__MatrixMan__ 5y ago

Well, if we start killing the greedy ones now, perhaps in a few thousand years. Or we can just find non-evolutionary ways to keep it in check.