Intellectual property does not exist. Bitcoin is digital but not intellectual.
Discussion
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect.
You know... books, movies, branding, trademarks...
You live in a world where these things don't exist?
Hey nostr:npub1v9qy0ry6uyh36z65pe790qrxfye84ydsgzc877armmwr2l9tpkjsdx9q3h. You offered the challenge... I accepted. Defend your position
No reply nostr:npub1v9qy0ry6uyh36z65pe790qrxfye84ydsgzc877armmwr2l9tpkjsdx9q3h? I get it... it's a ridiculous statement and completely indefensible.
Property must have a boundary defined and defended. Without a boundary, it’s just nature.
Information, to be property, must also have a boundary. A secret has this property. This is what makes Bitcoin intellectual property—only the keys, which are secret, can move coin.
Other forms of information (books, etc.) have no boundary once shared. Without a boundary, they’ve reverted to a state of nature. Like a glass of water poured into the ocean.
Property does not cease being a property if you fail to defend it... The British didn't lose control of their colonies and then say, " Don't worry it's not a property anymore... it's just nature now"
Also by your own logic, if the secret of your bitcoin keys becomes known by a malicious entity, in that moment bitcoin ceases to be an intellectual property and transforms into ??? (nature?)
IP is a ridiculous proposition. How can one claim property of an idea? What is even an idea tangibly? If you think about it, it makes no sense.
A physical book can be someone’s property. But claiming ownership of the specific arrangement of words on someone else’s piece of paper is just wrong. Just because the state uses coercion and violence to make this the case does not change the fact that it’s nonsensical. If you want a comprehensive argument against IP, see the book “against intellectual monopoly”.
I think the co-mingling of the idea of individual control being necessary and being property is the problem here.
Charles Schultz created Peanuts and all the characters in that universe ( Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, ect.) This is an intellectual property.
If I make a bastardized Peanuts of this I am stealing and degrading his intellectually work, especially if I claim to be the creator of Peanuts.
TLDR: Just because something is easy to steal does not make it yours and does not make it stop being a property.
What is being stolen?
If I see something and write it down on my piece of paper, what have I taken from you? You still have your piece of paper with your peanut drawing.
Are you claiming ownership on the specific arrangement of graphite on a piece of paper?
Claiming ownership of ideas is ridiculous. You can claim to be the person who came up with an idea, but not the idea itself. Well unless you use the force of the state to make it so
Charles Schultz has a large vested interest in keeping the integrity of the Peanuts universe; with it he makes books, movies, merchandise, ect.
If I start producing a Peanuts comic and I portray Charlie Brown as a meth head that starts kicking Snoopy and pimping out Lucy, it will degrade the intellectual property that he has built and will cost him in lost revenue from missing ticket sales on movies, lower book sales, ect.
Just because I can easily do this does not make it right (it will cause monetary harm to Mr. Schultz), it also does not negate Peanuts being an intellectual property.
You can't steal an idea. You can copy it but its not property. I can steal a hard drive with data on it. A drive is physical and I have it now and you don't. But if I copy the data on the drive I have not stolen it. You have not lost it. Logically IP makes no sense.
IP is an invention. It is a construct to control the market and create unnatural monopolies.
Highly recommend the writings of Stephan Kinsella.
IP are inventions: I agree. They are the works and property of their creator. These works are highly susceptible to theft. An unnatural monopoly is created to defend it. I agree with all of these points.
To put it more clearly.
Your piece of paper or steel with a secret/private key written on it is your property.
One does not and cannot claim property on the specific arrangement of words in someone else’s property (paper/steel).
If someone simply sees your seed phrase and writes it down without committing any crime such as breaking into your home, then they did not steal your property. After all you would still have your piece of paper/steel which is what you own.
We not so much own bitcoin, but rather become the only person able to use/move/spend specific UTXOs. That is if we manage to keep the secret that allows to move/use/spend those UTXOs secret
We are secret bearers at the end of the day. Not land owners
I find this argument pedantic. The property is the UTXO on the bitcoin blockchain not the piece of paper your key is written on...
If they steal your key words and move the utxo to a wallet under their control, they have deprived you of access to your property; commonly known as theft.
You can call it anything you want, but it’s not illogical.
The UTXO set exists on every node that stores the blockchain. Surely you don’t think everyone running a node owns all the UTXOs. Anyone running a node owns the history of the blockchain that is on their hard drive.
Again, no one can own the specific arrangement of words (seed phrase). We can own our piece of paper or steel with those words on it, but not the words or their arrangement on someone else’s property. So if someone sees these words without violating your actual property (house, car, backpack, etc.) then they have not stolen from you. To “own” bitcoin truly is to be the only person that knows how to move UTXOs.
I think the co-mingling of the idea of individual control being necessary and being property is the problem here.
How about this: I find bitcoin to be a commonly held intellectual property that we all possess and can control collectively.
Fair enough. While I think the concept of IP is flawed at best, I understand why people would hold that view given most governments recognizes IP in some form and will use force to protect it.
exactly
Yes, but I feel the same about many other things: Christmas, The United States of America, Lutherans. All things that exist as ideas (IP) that are collectively held and collectively controlled.
Now you are getting it. Some of there are voluntary and others are not. Some are mechanisms of control. IP is just an idea and its a flawed one.
Those are collectively held. Some are privately held: Peanuts. Some have very complex mechanisms of ownership and control: the U.S. Constitution, the bitcoin code.