Time Is Scarce, But Copied Notes Multiply
A debate on whether value-for-value and non-rivalrous goods can protect the labor of creative production.
A lively discussion on digital ownership unfolded across the network after musician Joe Martin questioned how value-for-value models handle uncredited re-monetization. Martin reflected on the asymmetry when an artist pours finite resources into recording an album, only for another entity to distribute and monetize it without consent.
Martin noted that if I spend X amount of money producing an album and X amount of time in writing the songs, that money and time are truly scarce and physical resources.
(Joe Martin).
In response, author Max pointed out that while creative labor is finite, the resulting ideas are non-rivalrous goods: The beauty of ideas is that it's the only production good that is non scarce, thus not rivalerous, and thus anyone can use it without taking from another.
(Max). Max encouraged creators to lean fully into open sharing, citing Stephan Kinsella's legal analysis and the open-source software economy.
