On 6/4/07, Benjamin Goertzel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
A) make the AGI codebase itself open-source, but using a license other than
GPL, which
-- makes the source open -- makes the source free for noncommercial use -- gives the rights to control commercialization of the codebase to the
nonprofit XYZ Corporation [including derived works of the codebase]
B) The nonprofit XYZ Corporation would -- have the goal of giving rights to others to use the AGI code
commercially
-- have the policy of preferentially giving these rights to those who have
contributed to the codebase
-- not give long-term domain-specific exclusive rights to anyone
(short-term domain-specific exclusive rights, might make sense..)
-- charge some license fee for those who want to commercialize the
codebase,
which would fund its operations and also potentially fund work on the AGI codebase [...] Alternatively, XYZ could be a for-profit as well. But my feeling is that
this would be worse psychologically, and more opposed to the OSS spirit. With XYZ as a nonprofit, contributors to the OSS AGI codebase don't have the feeling that they're coding for free, but for someone else's benefit. The benefit goes to anyone who wants to do a spinoff of the AGI codebase, and then some of the profit from this spinoff (if any) goes back to get more AGI work done. The problem is that I still want to get rich, and to make XYZ a non-profit would be dishonest and may result in some awkward contradictions later. (Unless my personality changes... which is also possible). I think people who are motivated by $$ tend to work harder and are more goal-oriented, and so they're more likely to produce a *higher* -quality AGI. Which is a bigger motivator -- charity/altruism, or $$? For me it's $$, and charity is of lower priority. And let's not forget that self-interested individuals in a free market can bring about progress, at least according to Adam Smith. Thanks a lot for your advice though, I'll think about it more... =) YKY ----- This list is sponsored by AGIRI: http://www.agiri.org/email To unsubscribe or change your options, please go to: http://v2.listbox.com/member/?member_id=231415&user_secret=e9e40a7e
