h a l f b a k e r yNeural Knotwork
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//to give the impression that// This is getting worryingly close to that Asimov short story where the robots were set going in the basement to play golf and generally use up the consumer equipment that the Humans did not want to have to do. |
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This could really be something. [+] |
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Love to come home from my holidays to find my garage door
off its rails and the neighbour's dog spread unevenly across the
driveway. |
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That's one way to teach em to keep their pooch on their
property. |
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It wasn't car related. It was about some mandate to consume a certain quote of consumer goods per year or something. This couple really didn't want to consume so they got their robots to use the goods instead. I'm sure it was Asimov. |
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[pocmloc], I remember that story. I would have guessed Asimov
as well - but from what I can recall of it, I think it might have
been published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. Or maybe
it was Analog. It was around the 1985-1990 timeframe. |
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(OK, I found it. It was Fred Pohl, 1954, "The Midas Plague". I think it got anthologized later, because I was less than young at the time of the original) |
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The fact that it's forbidden to republish a book written nearly 70 years ago speaks of evil. |
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I mean, the fact they're not in the public domain. |
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Sorry, but my philosophical opposition to long copyright terms seems to pit me against your desires as a writer. I don't repair a computer and demand that I keep getting paid for that for the next 70 years, and no author has the right to demand that sort of thing either. The ONLY justification for copyright is to encourage the production of more material, and existing copyright laws go far, far beyond that boundary. Of course it's better for you and your family that you get paid for longer. That doesn't provide an ethical justification for the state to forbid anyone else to repeat your words. |
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To directly answer your question, ten years from initial publication is what I think it should be. That's enough to encourage writers to write, and doesn't step beyond that. Like everyone else, Pohl's family doesn't have a right to profit long after his death from his work. It's why we save for retirement. |
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I don't even mind* if some evil corporation owns the copyright for hundreds of years and makes huge profits off it, as long as they keep the stuff in print and available so I can go and legally get a copy. |
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What I really object to is orphan works, where no-one knows who owns the copyright and it is out of print, or whoever owns the copyright just point blank refuses to make it legally available. |
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*Actually I do mind a lot |
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Gentlemen, your cars are getting restless. |
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