I actually see copyright and patents as a tiny socialist of the present composite system, i.e. 'to each according to his contribution'.
They're one of the small ways in which someone who actually does something gets a temporary monopoly on his little contribution, and it's something which is necessary to make the whole edifice function, because there is a need to ensure that people actually invent things and start companies, and if it were up to capital owners only, that wouldn't really happen. Ordinary people would have a very minimal incentive to use their intellect to discover genuinely novel things.
Public schooling is another, which is rather a socialist component, a communist component, a 'to each according to his need'.
But I suppose my view is consistent with a view that capitalism doesn't play nice with digital assets as well, but the present system does need these stabilising socialist and communist elements in order function and I think these socialist and communist components are genuine parts of the present system, just as capital ownership and wage labour are.
Comments
I actually see copyright and patents as a tiny socialist of the present composite system, i.e. 'to each according to his contribution'.
They're one of the small ways in which someone who actually does something gets a temporary monopoly on his little contribution, and it's something which is necessary to make the whole edifice function, because there is a need to ensure that people actually invent things and start companies, and if it were up to capital owners only, that wouldn't really happen. Ordinary people would have a very minimal incentive to use their intellect to discover genuinely novel things.
Public schooling is another, which is rather a socialist component, a communist component, a 'to each according to his need'.
But I suppose my view is consistent with a view that capitalism doesn't play nice with digital assets as well, but the present system does need these stabilising socialist and communist elements in order function and I think these socialist and communist components are genuine parts of the present system, just as capital ownership and wage labour are.