Re: [fsf-community-team] Argument from economic nessesity

[Edward Cherlin]

On Sun, Dec 13, 2009 at 21:57, Simon Bridge <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Sun, 2009-12-13 at 20:18 -0800, Edward Cherlin wrote:
>> On Sun, Dec 13, 2009 at 19:11, Simon Bridge <address@hidden> wrote:
>> > Something popped up on the NZLUG lists today - anyone want to respond?
>> > (Note, this is the argument from economic nessesity, which we see idn
>> > various forms often. Good practice. The trick is not to get drawn into
>> > side issues.) Here it is:
>> >
>> >> Playing devil's advocate here, and there questions are in no simple
>> >> way to convey to new-comers to the game
>>
>> All straw men.
>
> The straw man would be the implication that free software proponents
> expect programmers to work for nothing. But I thought the argument is
> closer to a false dichotomy - vis: programmers must either produce
> non-free code or starve.

Well said.

> However: the specter of the starving programmer is the same kind of
> straw man as the starving artist of thick copyright proponents. The
> purpose is to scare programmers into chaining their code.

Right. See also the murder mystery A&R, which refers to Artists and
Repertoire men in the music business. A detective in the tale objects
to this abbreviation, saying that in his business A&R men specialize
in Assault and Robbery. The music executive thinks for a minute, and
says, "Yes, that's about right."

>> 1) Free Software companies hire coders. I will just cite IBM and Red
>> Hat, but there are plenty more. Other companies write Free Software on
>> contract. Governments have begun to think that all code they
>> commission, except secret defense and intelligence code, should be put
>> under Free licenses. Media, including textbooks, also.
>
> The existance of free software based companies is empirical proof of the
> falsehood of the argument. The author, though, was of the position that
> this state of affairs would not continue.

True, but in the opposite sense from what he thinks. It will, in fact,
get much more so, particularly after governments come to demand Free
Software, and children grow up with it in school.

> The counter is that his economic model is out of date.

I would say that it is worse than out of date. It is based on false assumptions.

Particularly in the US we suffer from a continuing glut of Voodoo
Economics. You might think that the recent crash would utterly
discredit the Milton Friedman, Market Fundamentalist, "Freshwater" (U.
of Chicago, on Lake Michigan) school of Economic Pseudoscience, but we
are dealing with True Believers here, as documented by Eric Hoffer in
his book of that name, and by numerous authors on Cognitive
Dissonance, such as Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me).

>> 2) MS complains (on behalf of its poor, put-upon customers ^_^) that
>> Free Software sysadmins, coders, and other professionals cost more
>> than people who do Windows. This appears to be because Free Software
>> is more productive and of higher quality, so those pros are worth the
>> extra money.
>
> The stuff about WSJ seems extranious from this part of the world - is
> there a context I don't know about? As it stands, it neither follows
> from nor supports any of your arguments.

WSJ is the worst organ of Voodoo Economics. It is irrelevant to the
argument we wish to make, but quite relevant to understanding where
our opponents pass on their delusions to each other.

>> The Wall Street Journal is the most implacable enemy of
>> Free Software in what is known as the Mainstream Media (MSM). WSJ
>> considers Freedom bad for business. The business of the largest
>> companies, that is, the ones with the greatest amounts of
>> anti-competitive market power, the ones most likely to spend money on
>> WSJ ads. The actual economy, which counts benefits to small business
>> and to consumers as essential measures of the effectiveness of free
>> and competitive markets, is no concern of the WSJ.

-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://www.earthtreasury.org/