if copyright gives the software creator exclusive license, then they should test against all software to make sure they're not violating somebody else's copyright.

Software does not have infinite variability. In the field, we've applied multiple constraints on what's a good software solution (design patterns, anti-patterns) we have incredibly rich and common libraries, and languages themselves constrain solutions. So the odds of creating something that's violating somebody else's copyright is much higher than you would think

and this is bad how?

I had a conversation with my lawyer about this, and he said that if something is functional, you can't copyright it. A typical example is data compilation like a phone book or possibly training sets for machine learning. he also expressed the opinion that copyright should not apply to software because of the functionality rule

from the copyright office: Copyright law expressly excludes copyright protection for “any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied.” The Office may, however, register a literary, graphic, or artis- tic description, explanation, or illustration of an idea, proce- dure, process, system, or method of operation, provided that the work contains a sufficient amount of original authorship. However, copyright protection will extend only to the origi- nal expression in that work and not to the underlying idea, methods, or systems described or explained.

A more equitable solution would be a flat carbon tax. The well-to-do generate a far larger carbon footprint than the rest of us. A carbon tax will hit them harder than the rest of us. Yes will hit the rest of us hard, but if you use the tax revenue to subsidize carbon use by folks like us, the impact won't be as harmful, but it will be a big nudge encouraging us to reduce our carbon footprint.

You've hit on an important point. Not only is time to travel faster by playing, it's also cheaper and easier to set up a route between two points the biplane. There is no right-of-way needed when creating the route. If conditions at one of the endpoints change, you can very quickly change to a different endpoint.

Just like roadways, rail is rigid. Once it's created, everyone is locked in and continue to use it even when it is no longer viable..

to maximize cooling by clouds, we need to increase low altitude clouds and reduce high altitude clouds

https://earthobservatory.nasa....

okay then prove it. Let's see the numbers from reputable sources.

Okay, here is serious. one point didn't raise before but is important to include is the role of government in preventing cheating. Most of the financial engineering world is cheating. off the top of my head, I see the following as cheating. Stock buybacks, high-frequency trading, price-fixing, cartels, monopolies and real estate investment trusts, taking government money to develop a product and not paying it back as an investment by the government.(looking at you drug companies).

to your points, I do not see any data in the budget that says that when you lower taxes, you bring in more revenue. Consistently when taxes are lowered, the deficit increases. On top of that, the Republicans consistently loft the deficit by spending too much on nonproduction programs and making it possible for the wealthy to evade taxes, thereby putting more of the tax burden on lower-income people.

basic Safety net should ensure that nobody ever goes bankrupt from medical expenses or denies themselves care because they can't afford it. This is full-body, dental, and mind coverage. Depression is a killer in many ways. Failure to treat dental creates chronic illnesses.

I would pay fully for any medical degree, especially if the doctors were contractually bound to provide service for ten years and low-income/underserved communities. Getting a degree and entering a high-profit specialty like plastic surgery is cheating the rest of us.

fully paying for trades and making it easy to get a union internship would be a good way to ensure that if someone starts a trade program, complete the trade program. there should also be no penalty for failing.

it depends on the free shit. For example, every UBI trial shows that you give people free money, and they do responsible things with that money, enabling them and their children to improve their lot. If you give the wealthy free money, they use it to buy up assets, and extract rent from everybody else.

The world I grew up in was a very blue-collar factory world. High school was a factory producing workers for local shops and businesses. If you went to college, it was to become a white-collar worker for local business. I knew many kids in high school who got fully paid rides to college. I've also known some wealthy kids whose parents paid 100% for their college. I won't claim every person that got an full ride was inspired to do better but a lot of them did well. The advantage of the full ride was they didn't have to worry about how to get their education paid for and completing it. It's amazing how not having to worry about where your next meal is coming from, how to pay for your school, rent or medical care frees your mind up and let you focus on getting ahead in life.

The whole mythos of people getting free shit won't do anything with their lives comes from the illusion of meritocracy, if you become successful, you did it all yourself and deserve it. It is a self-rationalization to justify keeping all the money for yourself and denying resources and money to those not as rich as you are. It is far more likely your success starts with where you are born, who your parents are, and where you go to school. Google success based on ZIP Code for more articles on this topic.

again another nice debating trick with accusations and ridicule instead of fact. here is fact-based source with references to original materials.

one assumption Laffer curve believers almost never seem to acknowledge that the curve is not symmetrical, the research shows that the peak is far to the right but we don't know the shape of the curve as it approaches peak. Is it a wide top? Is it a narrow peak? Does it slowly rise to the peak as you approach the optimum point. does it drop off quickly or slowly once you pass the optimal point. As far as I can tell, most supporters stick their fingers in their ears and go La la La la you ask for some hard data or analysis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

here is where I got the 70% from. You're right, I did make a mistake. I said a 70% marginal tax rate. The references I supply just describe it as a 70% tax rate.

Nice debating trick: labeling my comments snark as a way of devaluing it.

yes there is a relationship between taxes and revenue. On the plus side, tax increases always increase revenue until they hit the 70% marginal rate for very high income/wealthy individuals.

It's not that the government spends too much. It spends on the wrong items that benefit corporations and wealthy individuals. Instead, the government should be spending money on universal health care, college, and parental leave, and people would be less resentful of paying taxes because there is a direct connection between paying taxes and an improved life.

https://www.politifact.com/fac... if you look as far back as Reagan, you'll see that Republicans have significantly increased the deficit and Democrats have reduced it. the reason for this seems to be that Democrats are more fiscally responsible in balancing expenditures and tax levels.

in other words, return to trickle-down economics. Trickle-down has been proven to not only not work but also be a great way to make rich people richer

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/t...

In Massachusetts and other states, there are limits on property tax. Any override has to be voted on and usually is voted down. Your idea of letting a library manage community access video is a great idea. As a rule, Massachusetts libraries are well-run, efficient, and welcoming places for people.

just as we don't let minors drink, use recreational pharmaceuticals, handle firearms, and drive, they should not be on the Internet. if a phone is given to a minor, it's functionality should be limited to that of a dumb phone

the primary purpose for regulation should be to prevent "cheating" by which a company can maximize profits at the expense of others. That can include anything from health and safety, pollution to finance shenanigans. A free market only works with transparency and anti-cheating measures.