Noam Chomsky - China & Intellectual Property Rights: Origins Podcast

In this highlight, Lawrence sits down with Noam Chomsky to discuss China and intellectual property rights. See the full interview here.
• Noam Chomsky - The Ori...
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The Origins Podcast features in-depth conversations with some of the most interesting people in the world about the issues that impact all of us in the 21st century. Host, theoretical physicist, lecturer, and author, Lawrence M. Krauss, will be joined by guests from a wide range of fields, including science, the arts, and journalism. The topics discussed on The Origins Podcast reflect the full range of the human experience - exploring science and culture in a way that seeks to entertain, educate, and inspire.
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[@peepoish]

can we get professor a mic like this for all his awesome interviews

[@dand4075]

Lawrence M. Krauss American theoretical physicist and cosmologist... Wow, No ordinary interviewer.

[@philipwoodgate9555]

with out patent rights research will almost cease, if a company invests in research they deserve the opportunity to get their money back for that research. The problem is when the patents go on too long and also encourage monopoly for extended periods of time.

[@MrLadyRaRa]

Government is the problem for creating IP then. ;) Never needed funding for technological advancements when there was no IP.

[@DenisOhAichir]

Chinese offense is a defence. Apt 41.

[@RiyadhElalami]

Chomsky is a big critic of China he is against China but that doesn't mean that those laws that the US makes is right, and he is just using the Chinese as an example of the US losing the monopoly of "right".

[@DenisOhAichir]

@@RiyadhElalami true he's down on China as much as anywhere else, that's consistent with his views with eons. China is playing a strategic game in their quest for the destruction of US hegemony, its far smarter than US strategy which is to keep dollar as world reserve currency, they will expend themselves just like every other empire, I think sooner rather than later.

[@jduncanm3golf]

This guy is so good

[@mattheww797]

does Chomsky have intellectual property rights on his published books?

[@joeherbert7556]

No. The publishers have those. In order to publish a book, you have cut a deal with a corporation where you effectively give them the rights to your book in exchange for a small percentage of the profit from the sales. In the process, publisher often chooses the name of the book, the cover photo, the design of the jacket, writes the front and back blurbs, edits the book, and chooses how the book is marketed and where it is sold. In either case, I doubt very highly that Chomsky would care if people in China were xeroxing his book and sharing free copies with each other.

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

Joe Herbert True. I’m guessing the main reason Chomsky uses publishers is that they effectively spread his message. He probably cares very little about profits.

[@L3th4LQu4rK]

P N right, he doesn’t care about his profits...www.hoover.org/research/noam-chomsky-closet-capitalist

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

L3th4LQu4rK I stand corrected. But so what? Profits probably aren’t the main reason he uses publishers

[@joeherbert7556]

@@user-wl2xl5hm7k the bottom line is that Chomsky does not care about the intelectual property rights of his books. If he could I'm sure he would be dropping boxes of free books out of a plane to get copies to everyone he could. And most artists are like that too. They want enough money to love on. But beyond that they just want people to enjoy thier work and don't give a fuck if people pirate their shit. It's the studios and publishers, the big giant corporate entities, not the content producers themselves, who have a huge stick up their ass about copyrights, because all they care about is maximizing profits, and never about the art they are producing, or the positive effect it might have on people's lives.

[@thechadeuropeanfederalist893]

The INCENTIVE to invest tons of money into research of for example new pharmaceuticals or technology suffers,when it can then be easily copied by Chinese companies which in turn then make tons of money with it. Why should China NOT observe intellectual property rights? Those rights also protect their own innovations. The problem is of course that they have to come up with their own innovations first.

[@MrLadyRaRa]

Because we would then have hundreds of Americans also copying and improving upon the medicine/technology and meeting demand more efficiently.

[@Devan-he4kr]

He answers that question in the video. For many technologies the motivation for innovation is not profit. It is government investment in the technology. See the history of the internet. At the same time, IP rights tend not to be owned by the innovators. Second, the whole history of global development is based on other countries making use of the IP of others. If we want to live in a world where everyone has the better standards of living, this is to be expected. Third, although he does not mention it, in most cases companies give China there IP rights in order to manufacturer in the country. It is often not a question of stealing. These companies just don’t like that China has enough power to demand that as part of deals.

[@KarstenOkk]

IP rights are set by the richest countries such as the US. So they hardly protect Chinese technology to the extend that they protect American tech.

[@GnirpsNaireip]

It’s simple - China was and still is a poor country. Your point about IP incentivizing innovation is true, but it may not apply to a country that started with nothing (absolutely nothing). The reality in China is they (even the most well off companies) simply could not afford, say, the software licenses at the prices set by MS and the alike, especially in the early days. In fact, it’s a well-known secret that MS for a very long time deliberately turned a blind eye to piracy in China to increase market penetration (yeah thru piracy), sort of like what they do in US colleges by offering site licenses to all students and staff at a heavily discounted price. So yeah the Chinese copied the tech and made their own cheaper version to get started, but are now in turn hindered from making more innovation because of their lack of IP protection seeded in the early days.

[@conors4430]

The Chad European Federalist The problem is if you apparently give a dam about the free market providing the best options for consumers at lower prices than the designation of private areas where other companies can’t trade flies in the face of all of that. You can’t designate places where people can’t go and set up monopolies and then claim you care about the free market giving the best options to consumers for better societal outcomes. It’s an oxymoron. These places don’t exist to protect themselves, they exist to fulfil a need in the community,

[@user-wl2xl5hm7k]

All types of intellectual property laws must be fully abolished immediately, in any and all jurisdictions worldwide ✊ As an aside, IP laws were relatively young at Marx’s time. He was unaware of how they worked, so he didn’t address them at all or about how they negatively affect the working class. Against Intellectual Monopoly is the most informative book humanity has on the subject now. Against Intellectual Property is another incredible essay, but it’s written from a right-libertarian perspective so if you’re leftist like me you’ll have to read with an open mind and extract what’s helpful.

[@libertarianPinoy]

The kind of resources it took to develop the different technologies of the 1800s is nowhere near the resources needed to develop today's technologies.

[@amrahmed7856]

Your point being?

[@Skygoers]

Exactly.

[@mihowmihow]

The problem is that if corporations and countries that invest trillions of dollars have their IP stolen and thus don't earn their share, they won't have the budget to fund further innovation. And I wouldn't trust innovation on corporations and countries that have to resort to stealing patents. In other words, IP protection safeguards global innovation and progress in general. What's more, autocratic countries such as China are notorious for lack of free speech. Without free speech, there's no exchange of ideas. Without exchange of ideas, there's no creativity. Without creativity, there's no progress. Autocratic countries can only develop so far. China's invocation doesn't go beyond expanding upon what has been invented by others, and at some point they won't be able to go any further unless they change.

[@Devan-he4kr]

China leaders the world in Patent applications. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Intellectual_Property_Indicators

[@aoeu256]

Well there will be less innovation on certain types of speech, but not others. Does China limit free speech on science & engineering? Plus Chinese would know how to get around restrictions.

[@xDemonTech]

Such a good point. The anglos treat this like a casus belli for war

[@mck1972]

I must have missed the part in Chomsky's BIO that states where he is Licensed to Practice IP Law, or Trade Law, or International Law, or any other relevant training/experience he possesses, that would make him qualified to discuss this topic???

[@mihowmihow]

It doesn't take a license to discuss these subjects. It takes intelligence and common sense.

[@mck1972]

@@mihowmihow , It doesn't take license to discuss Tax Law either. So would you hire Chomsky to represent you against the IRS, just because you think he has, ' intelligence and common sense '???

[@ashutoshsingh3204]

@@mck1972 Is he representing a client in intellectual property case?

[@mck1972]

@@ashutoshsingh3204 , IF Chomsky does not have equivalent credentials in Intellectual Property Law, as an actual Intellectual Property Attorney, then why should we take anything Chomsky says on this topic seriously at all???

[@ashutoshsingh3204]

@@mck1972 What would you say politicians talking about matters in which they don't have a degree in.

[@PureInsanity]

Noam Chumsky again talking out of his ass and generalizing. What about all the small business owners who come up with an Idea only to have a Chinese company steal that idea and sell it for cheaper? Happened very recently. Search "This is Disgraceful! Chinese Websites and Social Media are stealing from an American Small Business. "

[@r3fus32d13]

hey you can also go back to the age before China invented the compass, gunpowder, writing paper and the first rocket technology. Even the origin of the binary code was first seen in China. Hope you enjoy jungle life

[@PureInsanity]

@@r3fus32d13 And Muslims invented algebra, and whites invented calculus and the atomic bomb, and Jews invented the USB and jeans. Chinese enjoy those too. What's your point?

[@shezyam460]

@@PureInsanity his point is that we've always "stolen" tech from each other... no point complaining about it.

[@PureInsanity]

@@shezyam460 That's false equivalency. All those examples of past inventions required much less resources in research and development compared to these new ones.

[@shezyam460]

@@PureInsanity what? So in the past it's okay because it supposedly took less time but today it's not? I don't think anyone likes having their stuff stolen