[mythtv-users] A new theme on the way...

[Robert McNamara]

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 12:44 PM, Christopher Meredith
<chmeredith at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Robert,
>
> None of my interaction here is meant to be personal or particular to
> you. I definitely understand though if you take it personally. I just
> hope you don't equate my disagreement with you for disrespect of you.
>
> That said, your analogy breaks down at the key place. What if we had
> the Star Trekkian "replicator" technology and I was able to replicate
> your Stang, then put a hemi in my copy? Such an act takes nothing away
> form the work you put in or the finished product. You still have
> yours, I have mine, what difference does it make?

The problem with this argument is, where does the artist's work end?
If you make an exact copy, and I mean down to the atom, which is the
artist's work?  Is the artists work only the first of a given thing,
or is there an intangible quality that transcends the original unique
form?  Moreover, it sidesteps the moment of agreement to the license,
and I think is the critical stumbling block in this kind of
discussion-- if you know in advance that the license is not one whose
terms you can comply with, or whose terms are morally unacceptable to
you, is it ethical to accept them and then disregard them?  You might
feel (given the presupposed replicator technology) that my viewpoint
is unreasonable, or just totally stupid-- but it's your choice to
accept the caveats before accepting the work itself.  Personally, I
think there is a quality that transcends the number of copies made.

Robert