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by clarkmoody
3707 days ago
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I'm not going to argue for the continued existence of patents or intellectual property. In the case of cancer research, you sold your time to your employer for a fixed amount of money (maybe you had equity, but it doesn't sound like it). That was the end of the transaction for you. The investor took a risk and was rewarded for it, all within the current system, which is not a free society. When you spend money on a consumer good, you're going to choose the product that works best for you, given your budget. For the same money, you will not choose a product you deem to be inferior. Thus, you reward the maker of that product with your dollars because they solve the problem better than the maker of the inferior product. As for "appropriation of productivity," if you're alluding to the workers vs capitalists struggle from Marx, then I can't help you. I will simply point out that nobody in a free society is compelled to work for another. Thus, all salaries / wages / employment agreements are entered into voluntarily. There is no appropriation: each voluntary employee knows the terms of employment and agrees to them. |
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Ah, the plaintive cry of the college Libertarian. Of course people in our society are compelled to work for another; you cannot live without eating. You may not be compelled to work for a specific employer, but you are compelled to work, and in an economy where there is massive unemployment and wealth inequality, employees and employers are not on the same bargaining terms.
Let's put it this way: someone comes to you and says, "I have your wife in a secret location. Go and murder my boss, or you'll never see her again." You might accept this contract and we might call it "voluntary" since you agreed to the terms, but that's hardly a fair characterization of the situation. Power differentials matter, and they absolutely produce compulsion.