It all stemmed from the basis of copyright. For reference, here is the legal basis for copyright law in the US:
The Congress shall have power: ... To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;
That is from Article I, §8, cl. 8 of the United States Constitution, and it is the first part of that statement that jumps out at me "To promote the progress of science and useful arts".
So, considering this, I realizing that I was looking at a work of art. Moreover, this work of art was carved into stone hundreds of years ago, and likely was carved into that stone by another stone. The process must have been slow and excruciating, and all this at a time when simple survival was a daily fight. Picture, if you will, a hunter spending all day desperately searching for food to feed himself, his family, and his tribe. Then when he finally quits for the day, he spends his free time scratching a rock with another rock, all in the name of cultural expression, resulting in a wonderful piece of art that has survived hundreds of years, and barring disaster, can survive for hundreds more.
In the face of that, I realized that people will create art in the most adverse of conditions and that all that is really needed to promote the progress of the arts is to get out of the way and let people be people, not restrict them with over-bearing copyright laws.
So, considering this, I realizing that I was looking at a work of art. Moreover, this work of art was carved into stone hundreds of years ago, and likely was carved into that stone by another stone. The process must have been slow and excruciating, and all this at a time when simple survival was a daily fight. Picture, if you will, a hunter spending all day desperately searching for food to feed himself, his family, and his tribe. Then when he finally quits for the day, he spends his free time scratching a rock with another rock, all in the name of cultural expression, resulting in a wonderful piece of art that has survived hundreds of years, and barring disaster, can survive for hundreds more.
In the face of that, I realized that people will create art in the most adverse of conditions and that all that is really needed to promote the progress of the arts is to get out of the way and let people be people, not restrict them with over-bearing copyright laws.
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