Subject: [TS] Re: best usage vs. ownership
From: Andrius Kulikauskas (ms@ms.lt)
Date: Wed Mar 15 2000 - 01:46:40 EST
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your letter.
You've stirred up a lot of excitement, which I admire. The subject
you raise is good to be aware of, and you're welcome to raise it at our
discussion group minciu_sodas_en@egroups.com which is free for all to
join.
I haven't seen the patent that you refer to. It would be good if you
could send it to me, or point me to it.
We're a forum for getting things done that advance caring about
thinking. It's so hard to get things done. TheBrain has done, and is
doing, so much. I'm willing to help others - like Thoughtstream - get
things done. I don't have any energy to get in the way of very busy
people doing their work, especially people working with us.
The US judicial system has an idea I like a lot. They don't judge
hypotheticals, only real cases. There can be lots of problems with the
laws, but the courts don't care until there is a real life case that
involves them. It turns out that most problems with laws aren't
problems as far as real life is concerned.
What is the positive thing that we are striving for? If you like, we
can discuss this through minciu_sodas-en@egroups.com It's not practical
for me to write one-on-one correspondence because my job is to help
people network. But I can foster discussion, and as time allows, reply,
through our discussion group. Of course, you have other groups, no
shortage of them.
What I can offer is that through our laboratory your passion and idea
may evolve into an endeavor related to caring about thinking that others
might want to join. I am sure that it would be much bigger than just
TheBrain or even the patent system. We do have an objective "Access to
Creativity" for people who want to think thoughts other than their own.
Personally, I don't think that "ownership" is a useful concept. I
don't think morally we have any absolute right over anything, nor do we
have the right to any priveliges. Instead, morally there is "best
usage". That means that I myself may use my clothes, or my car (if I
had one), only so long as I put them to best usage. If someone can put
them to better usage, they should. It turns out, though, that nobody
around wants my used clothes. It turns out, that there's a lot of
people who should have more money - and more responsibility for it -
then me because they're better at spending it and I've got other things
to worry about. I think that if we focused on "best usage" instead of
"ownership", then the world would probably only change 5% on the
surface, but 95% in terms of how we relate to each other.
That would be a great objective. Your passion comes from a moral
issue. I simply hope that skirmishing over legal issues does not get
disconnected from the deep moral issues, which involve all of us. It's
a moral issue, for example, what is the best usage for our time. It's
immoral to do just whatever we want with it.
I send a copy to thoughtstream@egroups.com, and thanks for
approaching me and informing me.
Andrius Kulikauskas
Director
Minciu Sodas Laboratory
www.ms.lt
ms@ms.lt
Michael Simcich wrote:
>
> It's of primary concern to me that TheBrain LLC not be permitted to step on
> other similiar manifestations of relating nodes of information. I know that
> The Brain is some of your main sponsors. In spite of this, I think it would
> be appropriate for the lab members to issue a public statement about the
> patent(s) expressing the group's stance. In your letter to the eGroup, which
> I thank you for forwarding to me, you say that you assume that the patent
> was taken meerly in order to protect theBrain's work. If by this you mean
> that they may have taken the patent in order to prevent some other firm from
> aquiring such a patent and forcing TheBrain to pay royalties or something
> similiar, I think you are mistaken. There press release tells us very
> clearly that they intend to use the patent to dominate the space: "Its
> issuance creates a significant barrier to entry for companies considering
> developing similar technology and solidifies TheBrain.com's position as the
> leading provider of visual
> information environments."
>
> I know you and the other members have absolutely no interest in muddling
> with this type of issue; really none of us do. But it's becoming apparent to
> many of us that things are changing in our thought-world as it becomes more
> central to the general populace and to corporate interests. We have to make
> it clear to "land grabbers" that entire domains of intellectual property
> should not become anyone's sole posession. You and the other members of the
> lab are in a special position here as you are both highly involved in the
> sphere of interest and are sponsored by TheBrain. Please use your position
> to get TheBrain LLC to release these patents to the public domain.
>
> Michael Simcich
> AccessTools
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get $50 free postage.
Print postage from your PC with E-Stamp.
Click here to sign up.
http://click.egroups.com/1/2429/3/_/6321/_/953102637/
-- Talk to your group with your own voice!
-- http://www.egroups.com/VoiceChatPage?listName=thoughtstream&m=1
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Wed Aug 30 2000 - 22:01:01 EDT