[b800h]

Ah, I found this particularly offensive when I heard about the naming of the parent company. Randomly nicking a famous person's name for your company is pretty rubbish behaviour IMO. The odiousness decreases as a function of time since a person's death.

[ghjv]

Isaac Asimov has been dead for 34 years. How long should we wait to name something after someone? Not rhetorical, interested in more detail about when the odiousness crosses into being socially acceptable for you.

[kjksf]

In case of Asimov, forever.

To flip your rhetorical trick against you: would it be ok if they did it 1 year after death? If no, then I'm "interested in more detail about when the odiousness crosses into being socially acceptable for you".

To expose your rhetorical trick: you wanted him to admit that it's ok after SOME time therefore it's ok after THIS time. You put the burden of proof for defending THIS time (i.e. 34 years) as acceptable on him. Which is hard.

Sneaky but only if don't get exposed.

Because equally correct framing is: if you accept that it's NOT ok after SOME time (1 year) then the burden of proof for defending it's ok THIS time (i.e. 34 years) is on you.

So go ahead, tell us what is the exact number of years that makes it ok. Defend YOUR number the way you wanted him to defend his.

[johnfn]

Are you upset about Calvin and Hobbes being a reference to John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes? Probably not? I think OP is asking an interesting question and you are being unnecessarily combative.

[rob74]

IMHO naming characters after famous people is more likely to be considered an "honest" homage than naming a company after them...

[johnfn]

Are you upset that Tesla is named Tesla? Probably not? A lot of people are angry about Tesla and I think even then I haven't ever heard of that particular complaint.

[angiolillo]

Does your forever limit apply to names besides "Asimov"?

There are a lot of companies and projects that have used the names of real people without that person's involvement or approval: Einstein, Tesla, Edison (besides the ones related to his company), Darwin, Beethoven, Mozart, Newton, Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, Archimedes, Socrates...

[resoluteteeth]

I think 100 years after their death would be reasonable because at that point it's long enough that people won't assume there's an actual connection to the person or that it's endorsed/founded by them

[bcjdjsndon]

It's very easy to upset a human. Is it learned behaviour? Would a kid ever take "offense" to something like this... probably not, we must have learnt this at some point

[kjksf]

Misleading people is not ok.

It's so not ok that we have laws against misleading people. Not against this particular misleading (I don't think, although if Asimov had a formal estate they could probably sue).

I can't open "Tom Cruse's Fine Wine" because I'm not Tom Cruse. It's wrong morally but also illegal. We have laws against things like that and Tom Cruse would surely sue my ass, successfully. The proof of that is that there is no "Tom Cruse's **" businesses out there.

It might stop being illegal if the person dies because to sue you have to have standing. Unless there is formal trust like e.g. Tolkien's works and business affairs which probably have standing to sue "Tolkien's Fine Wine".

A child would also take offense on being mislead. Not this particular misleading because it only misleads people who know who Asimov is and like his books. Your hypothetical child doesn't.

But tell a child you'll buy him an ice cream if he finishes his chores and let's see how he reacts if you mislead him by not buying an ice cream.

You must have learnt this at some point.

[palmotea]

> It's very easy to upset a human. Is it learned behaviour? Would a kid ever take "offense" to something like this... probably not, we must have learnt this at some point

Are you human? You're talking like you're an alien from another planet. Unfamiliar with humanity and it's customs.

Here are some facts that may interest you:

1. Humans do not hatch from eggs, they grow from spores underground and emerge as children.

2. There is little need for learning in human society, as children inherit most knowledge they need as genetic memories from their parents.

3. Humans never discovered fire, usually they developed the technology for electric heating elements first. Only later did they work out how to use fire technology.

[OJFord]

Young children can absolutely be jealous - I can easily imagine (perhaps it's even a distant memory of having witnessed) a toddler being upset that someone else actually has the same name, nevermind co-opting it.

[bcjdjsndon]

You're right actually, it's adults who are big babies. We give children shit for that as well

[BoredomIsFun]

Asimov is a widespread lastname in ex-USSR, esp. Central Asia. I personally know three unrelated Asimovs.

[derwiki]

Tesla has entered the chat

[chromacity]

And speaking of product names, I hope no one here is using Claude.

[embedding-shape]

Would be neat if more continued the tradition in FOSS that creators of projects names the projects after themselves, like Debian or Git.

[budman1]

I get the reference to deb and ian (two people), but not git ?

[joseda-hg]

For those not in the know

"I'm an egotistical bastard, and I name all my projects after myself. First Linux, now git." - Linus Torvalds

Git

noun - derogatory

An unpleasant or contemptible person (typically used of a man).

[embedding-shape]

Linus famously named git after himself.

[renewiltord]

In fact, we need to provide more intellectual property rights for people over their names. Famous people's names should be blocked off in perpetuity for their families only, though resale may be permitted. It is time we formalized this universally held social behaviour.

[TheCoelacanth]

Perpetuity is insane. You shouldn't be able to name something "Ramses" without permission even though he's been dead for over 3000 years?

I could see maybe 20 years after death being reasonable.

[renewiltord]

It's just so icky trying to use the name Ramses. How about Sheepses instead? If you must insist on the gender, perhaps menses?

We can all agree that 100 years is perhaps sufficient, though if someone makes the case that it should be a 1000 years I wouldn't disagree. At 5000 I think it's probably still fine, but even today the descendants of Grug have not received a dime despite the fact that he invented the wheel, so perhaps we need to go back longer.

[embedding-shape]

> I could see maybe 20 years after death being reasonable.

And another person sees 10 years as reasonable, another as 30 years. Ultimately, our life-spans also change, so what works out today, might not work out in 30 years.

What about after the last direct decedent is no longer alive? Grand-children might not care that much, but it's unlikely your children wouldn't care about how others use a name associated with you and indirectly them.

[tliltocatl]

> more intellectual property rights

is the last thing we need. Granted, picking a famous name you don't have any association with is an a-hole move. Not all a-hole moves should be illegal.