5 ms·

People don't just write books to profit while they are alive. They write books so their families have something to pay the bills once they die as well. Books ar

People don't just write books to profit while they are alive. They write books so their families have something to pay the bills once they die as well. Books are hard enough to write and sell successfully. The few that make it are special for the families of the writers, and you want to take them. You're free to give away your work. Stop telling others what to do with their work and that you want to take it because they died.

joquarky 2y ago
This sounds like an appeal to tradition. And an appeal to putting all your eggs in one basket and then demanding that eggs remain valuable long after you're dead and replicators are invented. Also, why does your family get to shirk their obligation to contribute to society?
- throwAGIway 2y ago
  What obligation? They are paying taxes. That's more than enough.
  - account42 2y ago
    What are they paying those taxes with? That's right other people's labor. I don't see why the rest of the society should support his.
anigbrowl 2y ago
Design patents have a 15 year life. I'm a great lover of books and arts in general, but I'm not clear on why ownership rights in some creative endeavors should be massively privileged over others. Can the families of authors not write books of their own, or engage in other economic activity? What about the families of people who toil over creative work and don't hit the jackpot? There are many fine writers/artists who never gain more than a niche audience while garbage sells big. Go to a bookstore and look at the history section, pseudo-historians like Bill O'Reilly are given more shelf space than serious historians. To be frank I almost exclusively buy from used book stores for the last decade because nonfiction offerings in chain/non-specialist bookstores are so bad. Vendors of used books tend to select for quality rather than popularity.
- talldatethrow 2y ago
  Sure they can, just like you could have your house taken from you and you could build another one. Why do your kids expect to get your house when they could build one too?
  - account42 2y ago
    Is was never their house to begin with. We just allowed to not use it ourselves for a while but that doesn't mean we can't change that arrangement when we realize it's actually a very bad deal for most of us.
account42 2y ago
Does your plumber's family get to live of the toilets he installed? Why shouldn't they be able to do that but a writer's family can? > Stop telling others what to do with their work We are not telling them what to do we are saying authors shouldn't have the right to restrict what we can do, or to be more precise, say - because that's what copyright is in the end, a limitation on free speech.

joquarky 2y ago

This sounds like an appeal to tradition. And an appeal to putting all your eggs in one basket and then demanding that eggs remain valuable long after you're dead and replicators are invented. Also, why does your family get to shirk their obligation to contribute to society?

throwAGIway 2y ago
What obligation? They are paying taxes. That's more than enough.
- account42 2y ago
  What are they paying those taxes with? That's right other people's labor. I don't see why the rest of the society should support his.

anigbrowl 2y ago

Design patents have a 15 year life. I'm a great lover of books and arts in general, but I'm not clear on why ownership rights in some creative endeavors should be massively privileged over others. Can the families of authors not write books of their own, or engage in other economic activity? What about the families of people who toil over creative work and don't hit the jackpot? There are many fine writers/artists who never gain more than a niche audience while garbage sells big. Go to a bookstore and look at the history section, pseudo-historians like Bill O'Reilly are given more shelf space than serious historians. To be frank I almost exclusively buy from used book stores for the last decade because nonfiction offerings in chain/non-specialist bookstores are so bad. Vendors of used books tend to select for quality rather than popularity.

talldatethrow 2y ago
Sure they can, just like you could have your house taken from you and you could build another one. Why do your kids expect to get your house when they could build one too?
- account42 2y ago
  Is was never their house to begin with. We just allowed to not use it ourselves for a while but that doesn't mean we can't change that arrangement when we realize it's actually a very bad deal for most of us.

account42 2y ago

Does your plumber's family get to live of the toilets he installed? Why shouldn't they be able to do that but a writer's family can? > Stop telling others what to do with their work We are not telling them what to do we are saying authors shouldn't have the right to restrict what we can do, or to be more precise, say - because that's what copyright is in the end, a limitation on free speech.