[dleslie]

Digital works are ephemeral. There is nothing to own that is not a fantasy wrought of the agreement to abide by certain rules; if your customers do not agree, then you must convince them to or adjust your attempts at compensation accordingly.

Copying your book does not prevent you from attempting to ask for compensation or from attempting to sell it; but you are competing in a market where your product only carries as much value as your customers perceive it to hold, and not what you declare it to be.

[wfo]

Ownership /in general/ is an ephemeral fantasy that does not "exist" per se and is socially constructed. You "own" a piece of property only by virtue of the fact that the law decides nobody else can step on it.

[Dylan16807]

You don't really need society to enable ownership of physical objects.

[anigbrowl]

Yes you do. Otherwise I can just come along and take your stuff because I feel like it, and if you object I'll beat you up.

[Dylan16807]

But you'll get hurt too.

There are animals that own objects where that ownership is not enforced through any societal methods.

[wfo]

No, they don't have ownership, they have possession. And they use violence to enforce it. And if they leave their possessions, even for a moment, they don't have them anymore and another animal takes them.

[Dylan16807]

> No, they don't have ownership, they have possession.

Do you have a non-circular distinction between the two?

> And they use violence to enforce it.

Is that relevant?

> And if they leave their possessions, even for a moment, they don't have them anymore and another animal takes them.

It's not often that nests get stolen when they're left unattended.

[anigbrowl]

Why would I get hurt? You seem pretty weak and easy to defeat. In this brave new world of yours where I'm not bound by any ethical calculus, what makes you think you'll get any opportunity for redress?

[Dylan16807]

My? New?

But good luck having a particularly big advantage in a fight against most fellow adults of your species without using society to get there.

[dleslie]

Non-ephemeral objects can be scarce and intrinsically unique, whereas digital information is made so artificially, at best. Digital works have no intrinsic material value.