Bounty Hunters, Map Makers Gold Miners | Page 2

for a while. What struck me most was the wording of the question itself. The words in the question point to an underlying truth of how things work. The question actually points to the answer.
1.1 "What incentive systems should exist in the world?"- Bill Gates
Systems, incentive, should. Three very important words.
1.1.1 "Systems"
Copyright and Patent law are components in a system of players. Individuals have an internal drive to self-interest as well as an internal drive to community-minded behavior or fair play. Copyright and Patent laws are intended to affect that system in a strategic way.
1.1.2 "Incentive"
Copyright and patent law punishes certain behaviors and rewards certain other behaviors. By providing these incentives, copyright and patent law CHANGES the way players behave.
1.1.3 "Should"
Copyright and Patent law is OPTIONAL. The system can operate without the influence of copyright and patent law, and the players will adjust accordingly. Despite dire warnings from some copyright and patent holders, the system of players is inherently stable without legal influences. Chaos will not ensue due to a lack of copyright and patent laws. Rather, players will readjust to a different point of balance.
Since copyright and patent law is optional, the question is when and how SHOULD the law be implemented. Copyright is not something the world MUST have. Copyright is optional and should only be adopted if it creates a win-win situation for the community and the creators.
1.2 Models and Metaphors
What is needed is a model or metaphor that describes the actors in the system with and without intellectual property laws in place. For a model to be useful in determining what legal incentives SHOULD be in place, it must predict what will happen without law, with varying implementations of law, and it must also be able to predict results with fair players and with unfair players.
Once you have a model, you may be able to find a generic algorithm that describes how to find a fair result. If the algorithm produces a fair result with a spectrum of players in the model, then you've found a relatively robust algorithm.
1.3 Cake Cutting
The basic cake cutting algorithm works like this: There is a cake treated as common property between two people. These two people want to find a way to cut the cake such that both of them get a fair piece. A solution is to have one person of the two cut the cake, and then allow the other person to pick which piece they want.
This is a fairly robust algorithm because it will produce a fair result under most circumstances, regardless of how selfish or selfless the actors are. The person cutting the cake has incentive to cut fairly because if one piece is noticeably bigger, the other person will naturally tend to pick that piece, and the person who cut the cake will get a smaller piece. Selfish cake cutters are given incentive to cut fairly.
But there are other algorithms that you could use to cut the cake. For example, you could have one person cut the cake and pick which piece they get. This produces a fair result only if the cake-cutter is a reasonably fair person. The model shows that this algorithm will produce an unfair result if the cake-cutter serves only their self-interest.
Another approach is to bring in a third person to act as an impartial cake-cutter, have them cut the cake, and distribute it accordingly. This is also subject to abuse when unfair players are in the system. The third person acting as impartial cake cutter is an actor the same as any of the other players, and could be filled by various people across the spectrum of selfish to selfless.
A model that relies on finding a "fair" or "impartial" individual for the algorithm to achieve a fair result is not nearly as robust as an algorithm that doesn't care about the internal drives of the players but achieves a fair result anyway.
1.4 A Model / Metaphor for Intellectual Incentive
The cake cutting system does not model all aspects of how intellectual works relate to all the different actors in the system.
So, back to Bill Gates' question: "What incentive systems should exist in the world?"
We need a model or metaphor that describes the system of intellectual works from before the works are created, to while they are treated as property, to the point where they become public domain (public property). We also need the model or metaphor to describe a system where many actors in a system design an "incentive system" for a few of the players.
The answer to this question should produce a model or metaphor that sufficiently simulates a system and allows you to predict conditions that make the system unstable, as well as design algorithms that are stable and fair and robust.
After pondering this for a bit, it occurred