[literalAardvark]

I'm very firmly opposed to holding back societal and technological progress based on people's egos so that certainly won't be one of my projects.

There's no real harm done, I recall seeing a couple of studies showing that piracy doesn't meaningfully affect sales. If the work was worth anything, it'll get paid back by the thankful reader who can afford to pay.

[Jtarii]

Destroying the profit motive would cripple human progress more than paywalls ever could.

>If the work was worth anything, it'll get paid back by the thankful reader who can afford to pay.

Comically naive.

[rng-concern]

Only it's been shown time and time again that piracy does not destroy the profit motive.

As a personal anecdote, when I used to pirate things, I still bought things in the same category, ie: I would pirate movies and I still bought movies. I would pirate games and I still bought games.

I don't think it affected how much of each thing I purchased by much, but I don't really know.

[kjkjadksj]

Most everything on earth is pretty trivial to pirate. And yet…

[literalAardvark]

Tested and proven to be true, really. You're just being weird about it.

My entire life has been one continuous run down the shit slide driven by "the profit motive".

“Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.

This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity [...very long quote...] A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke

Everyone else, please go touch grass, we have enough books about milking farms.

[noelsusman]

That's fine but not really relevant to my point. Saying you can't even imagine how people could have an issue with somebody taking other people's work and distributing it for free is pretty baffling.