Subject: [TS] Re: ramblings
From: Andrius Kulikauskas (ms@ms.lt)
Date: Mon Mar 20 2000 - 15:39:44 EST
Hi, I wrote my most recent response below before receiving Michael's
letter on Saturday. But I don't have anything more to add. Andrius
******************
Thanks, Jack, for your warm and thoughtful response. I don't have that
much more to say, just a few notes:
"And now, you have been asked to express your concerns to TheBrain and
you
respond that this would end in the cessation of your activities."
For the record,
1) I expressed Michael Sismich's concerns - publicly.
Upon first hearing of Michael Sismich's concern, I immediately passed it
on to our working group Flow of Experiences, which is available for
public view. (See whetherwhat@egroups.com, recently renamed
ourownthoughts@egroups.com)
2) I did state my own concerns.
I prefaced his letter with my own general concerns. I include that
below this letter.
3) I have been asked to express concerns that are not my own.
I stated my general concerns about patents and the public domain, but
don't feel a particular concern towards TheBrain' patents, which don't
affect me emotionally.
4) I did not respond that this would end in the cessation of my
activities.
I don't have any reason to know how TheBrain LLC would react. I do
know, though, that without their recent support I would have to
seriously consider looking for a job. I wrote this to bring out the
very consequences of Michael's statement that "I am quite dissapointed
if Minciu Sodas as a group will not register a strong complaint with
TheBrain LLC ... Even if it costs the lab the support of TheBrain LLC".
For more on the above,
5) The appropriate place for me to continue this discussion would be at
Minciu_Sodas_en@egroups.com, which all may join, members and nonmembers,
with no restrictions, just send a blank message to
Minciu_Sodas_en-subscribe@egroups.com
It's the appropriate place for me because
- It's the discussion group where - in English - we discuss what our
laboratory is all about, it's structure and strategy, what is "caring
about thinking", and help prospective members become members. We
specifically invite nonmembers as well so that we learn from them what
they would like us to be all about.
- It's on our own turf, which is the logical place to think through our
laboratory's policies, especially if they may affect other members, and
to build the consensus of of our members.
- It's very helpful to our laboratory to focus energy on discussing what
our laboratory is about so that all the many other relevant issues we
are interested come together, rather than handle each one separately.
We certainly want to design our laboratory in an integrated manner.
- I much appreciate the work of the "thoughtstream gang", I also feel
your support, and this would be a great positive for our laboratory.
So, whenever you have thoughts on what role Minciu Sodas might play,
please bring them to minciu_sodas_en@egroups.com
Yours,
Andrius Kulikauskas
Director
Minciu Sodas laboratory
http://www.ms.lt
ms@ms.lt
+1 (619) 298-7019 until April 29th
*********************************************
"Hi, Michael Simcich approached me with regard to his concerns about
TheBrain, LLC having patents that would hinder the development of UI.
In general, I share his concerns - where do we draw the line? What's
the logic behind copyrighting translations of the Bible, behind
patenting genes? I have no idea of the extent of TheBrain's patents and
assume they simply serve a protective purpose.
Our real concern is to accomplish endeavors, and until something gets in
the way - such as patent law actually threatening us - I think we have
our own constructive work to do. On the other hand, I think Michael's
thoughts are very helpful so that we are sensitive to obstacles others
may face. This kind of thinking has lead to our laboratory's emphasis
on the public domain and also the need for an import/export standard. I
must mention that our agreements with both TheBrain, LLC and MindJET,
LLC, by mutual request, insist that the work of our laboratory is in the
public domain."
I received two responses, one from Nick Duffill of MindJET, "Interesting
discussion, but IMHO ultimately fruitless in the specific context of
this project" and one from Ben Darnell, "IMHO we have a duty to take an
explicit and uncompromising stand against abuses of the patent system
like this one." I also replied again to clarify the purpose of that
working group. This all in the public domain at
whetherwhat@egroups.com (the name of the working group has not much
later been changed to ourownthoughts@egroups.com).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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