So I just read Bill Gates’ 1976 Open Letter To Hobbyists, in which he whines about not making more money from his software. You know, instead of being proud of making software that people wanted to use. And then the bastard went on and made proprietary licences for software the industry standard, holding back innovation and freedom for decades. What a douche canoe.

  • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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    10 hours ago

    ai is the rich stealing from us, piracy is usually us taking it from the rich.

    • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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      25 minutes ago

      That’s true in the same way that Trump’s tariffs are paid by other countries. Which is to say: Not at all.

      Bill Gates was no billionaire at the time. His background was probably shared by almost all computer hobbyists at the time.

      • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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        7 minutes ago

        Hardly. Bill Gates came from a wealthy family, attended a private school, and through it had thousands of hours of computer programming time several years before even the Altair 8800 came out. He had a personal connection to IBM through his mother, which is how Microsoft got the DOS deal. His circumstances were unique, and his success the result of a hefty dose of luck.

    • anarchiddy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 hours ago

      AI is theft in the same way that all private property theft. It isnt the piracy of media, it’s the alienation of labor from its product, and withholding it for profit.

      • 3yiyo3@lemmy.ml
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        7 hours ago

        Private property is not theft, it is exploitation. Marx already refuted this anarchist childish way of thinking

            • Pika@rekabu.ru
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              7 hours ago

              Even libertarians, who are on the exact opposite side economically, agree IP is garbage made and manipulated to enrich the few.

              • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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                58 minutes ago

                It’s a bit of a split among libertarians. Some very notable figures like Ayn Rand were strong believers in IP. In fact, Ayn Rand’s dogmas very much align with what is falsely represented as left-wing thought in the context of AI.

                It’s really irritating for me how much conservative capitalist ideals are passed off as left-wing. Like, attitudes on corporations channel Adam Smith. I think of myself as pragmatic and find that Smith or even Hayek had some good points (not Rand, though). But it’s absolutely grating how uneducated that all is. Worst of all, it makes me realize that for all the anti-capitalist rhetoric, the favored policies are all about making everything worse.

    • PearOfJudes@lemmy.ml
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      10 hours ago

      And piracy is actual enjoyment of art made by hardworking devs who unfortunately work for multi billion dollar companies T-T