[Cryptography] Software patent lifetimes are the problem (Re: Hashgraph)

[Ben Laurie]

On 4 January 2018 at 05:33, Howard Chu <hyc at symas.com> wrote:

> Henry Baker wrote:
>
>> Later, during the "Enlightenment", those rent-seekers ("rentiers")
>> wanting patent monopolies developed better branding and public relations,
>> and thus the concept of granting patents in exchange for disclosure was
>> born.  But this was merely an artificially-contrived excuse for a *theory*,
>> and was *never scientifically tested*.  Indeed, the concept that patents
>> encourage innovation (and hopefully more taxable income for the state) has
>> about the same scientific basis as bleeding to cure various diseases.
>>
>
> Not to disagree with an otherwise excellent post, but bloodletting was
> actually an effective defense against the Black Death. In particular, the
> plague bacterium fed on iron in the blood; people who were anemic tended to
> be immune. Interesting that the plague tended to kill the wealthy
> population first...
>

There are also modern diseases that are treated by bleeding. Ferroportin
disease, for example.


>
> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11640368
>
> Jefferson fully understood the difference: "He who receives an idea from
>> me, receives the instruction himself *without himself lessening mine;* as
>> he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me."
>>
>> Jefferson, as politician, sold out, while Franklin realized the true
>> nature of innovation: it is a *network effect*, whose value increases with
>> the number of people who understand and use it; excluding people from its
>> use *actually slows innovation and its economic benefits*.
>>
>> [Best recent example: 3D printing.  It only captured the imagination of
>> the public after the major early patents expired.  This close temporal
>> succession is not a coincidence.]
>>
>
>
> --
>   -- Howard Chu
>   CTO, Symas Corp.           http://www.symas.com
>   Director, Highland Sun     http://highlandsun.com/hyc/
>   Chief Architect, OpenLDAP  http://www.openldap.org/project/
>
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