A nice parable of Web 2.0 and intellectual property
Posted by Nicholas Gruen on Friday, July 23, 2010
A nice story available in this article. HT: Serge Soudoplatoff
A tramp passes by a restaurant, but does not enter, as he has too little money. The cook is furious to see a tramp in front of his place, rushes him, starts fighting with him, and eventually asks him for some money. The case is brought to a judge, who listens to each side. The tramp insists, “I have eaten nothing, therefore I should not pay”, to which the cook retorts, “He has not eaten, but he has smelled the flavor. This smell is the result of my expertise, and I should also be rewarded for this!”
The judge asks the tramp for a coin, taps it on the table, tells the cook “you have heard the noise, so now you are paid”, and gives the coin back to the tramp.
This entry was posted on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 3:11 PM and filed under Economics and public policy, IT and Internet.
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I predict that the upshot of any conversation on this topic will be that, as Neil Wheedon Watkins Pye once said, ‘most metaphors don’t bear close examination’.
I look forward to being proven wrong though!
Posted on 23-Jul-10 at 4:54 pm | PermalinkHmm, well I’ve never heard of Watkins but I hope he’s being quoted out of context. He’s noticed that metaphors and analogies are not the things that they are metaphors and analogies of. Not sure I’d want to sit through too much conversation with such a sage as that. I might be blinded by the light.
Posted on 23-Jul-10 at 5:31 pm | PermalinkMerely a flippant Young Ones reference Nick.
And of course a suggestion that ‘produce’, defined so broadly as to make food and IP equivalent, is not a useful concept. We all know that food is to be consumed, and that by its consumption it’s rendered useless for others.
In a Star Trek world of trivial matter replication, the analogy might have merit, but not here.
Posted on 23-Jul-10 at 6:22 pm | PermalinkDung beetles would claim that you do not understand Food 2.0.
Posted on 23-Jul-10 at 7:02 pm | PermalinkFDB, Apologies for my rudeness.
Posted on 23-Jul-10 at 7:07 pm | PermalinkThank you, Nicholas, to publish this beautiful story, and to quote me.
I also wrote it in french (but with some links in english) at :
http://blog.almatropie.org/2010/02/le-mendiant-le-cuisinier-et-le-juge-ou-leconomie-de-limmateriel-au-moyen-age/
What fascinates me is that 1) it happens in medieval age, 2) you find the same story in Korea, China, Afghanistan, England, Brittany, Turkey, 3) it is probably from Nasreddin Hodj (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasreddin) and 4) shows a nice interrogation on tangible economy versus intangible economy; but also a very funny probem solving by the judge !!!
Cheers
Serge
Posted on 23-Jul-10 at 9:48 pm | Permalink