Intellectual Property

Calling an idea "property" does not make it so. Property requires scarcity -- ideas can be shared without loss to the originator. Restricting others from using their own resources to reproduce a pattern is coercion, not protection. Patents, copyrights, and similar monopolies are granted by force, create artificial scarcity, and punish independent discovery. They reward lawyers and incumbents, not creators. Real innovation is protected by being first, being better, and being trusted -- not by threatening others with violence for using their own minds and materials.