From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Dec 09 2002 - 14:38:23 MST
> (Rafal Smigrodzki <rms2g@virginia.edu>):
> Michael Dickey wrote:
>
> > the thread and youll see the different discussions. This discusion
> > may not *to you* be about the ability of a person to amass wealth,
> > but it was to me and many other people in the thread. If you think a
> > person has the right to amass a great deal of wealth without IP
> > rights helping him out, then we are in agreement and can have no
> > further productive discussion, if your intent is to debate the
> > validity of IP laws in relation to Gates amassing wealth, I have
> > nothing productive to add to that discussion either.
>
> ### Sorry if I misinterpreted the meaning of this thread. I have absolutely
> no problem with Mr. Gates' billions as such, merely the way he obtained the
> cash. Had he made his money by making e.g. chocolate, cheaper and better
> than anybody else, he'd be my hero even if his worth exceeded 100 billion.
>
> Rafal
But let's be honest here...90% of the people who rant against Bill's
billions don't have the first clue /why/ they object, or what the
real moral foundation of their objection is. They simply object to
the wealth itself, and /assume/ that there must have been some
immoral means used to obtain it, because their imaginations are so
pitiful they can't conceive of obtaining that kind of wealth by
purely legitimate means. And of the remaining few who /do/ have a
specific objection to something he's done, it's probably something
that's perfectly legitimate in a true free market, like the tying
contracts or undercutting competitors. I don't recall ever reading
an essay or a post condemning Bill for the legitimate reasons he
actually can be justly comdemned (except my own, of course).
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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