On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 09:23:37PM +0100, Richard Dobson wrote: > On 20/09/2011 20:38, Fons Adriaensen wrote: >> On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 02:15:19PM -0000, Michael Chapman wrote: > .. >> Intellectual property, just like property of physical >> goods, does not exist naturally - it is something >> granted by society to individuals in the hope that >> society will benefit by doing so. If that doesn't >> happen there is no reason why it should exist. >> > > Wow. How far back in time does this arrangement go? Which came first - > the individual, or the society?
That doesn't really matter. If a number of individuals interact you have a society. Once that happens, things are 'yours' only because the others agree the are. Such agreements arise because they bring mutual benifit. The alternative is living isolated, or having to physically protect and defend your 'property' all the time, which sort of defeats the purpose. Ciao, -- FA _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list Sursound@music.vt.edu https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
