From: hal@finney.org
Date: Mon Oct 29 2001 - 20:05:45 MST
On Mon, 29 Oct 2001, Mike Lorrey wrote, in the thread on lighthouses:
> I do not oppose the elimination of corporate ownership of IP.
> Corporations are not senient beings, and therefore cannot be artists.
> The Constitution clearly states that Congress is to protect the
> creators, the artists, not anyone else.
I think as Extropians we would support the notion that collective and
non-human entities should have rights if they are able to request them.
We envision a time when social and mental structures will be much more
complex than the simple distinction we have today between individuals and
organizations. We could have hybrid beings with some of the properties
of both.
If two or more people want to hook up their brains and think collectively
it should be OK. If someone wants to subdivide their consciousness
into multiple semi-autonomous parts, that should be permitted as well.
We should encourage experimentation like this. It will add diversity
to the world and make more opportunities available to everyone.
We are not able today to make biological changes, but we can support
the existing mechanisms which allow for quasi- and virtual-persons to
exist under the law. Corporations, partnerships, marriages and other
groupings should be allowed to be treated as individuals when they choose,
to the maximum degree practical.
Hal
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