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____/ Homer on Wednesday 29 Jun 2011 10:48 : \____
> Verily I say unto thee, that Erik_jan spake thusly:
>> Homer had de volgende lumineuze gedachte op 29-06-11 06:38:
>>>
>>> Intellectual Monopolists have essentially turned back the clock on
>>> human progress to a time before the advent of the printing press,
>>> transforming us back into ignorant peasants subjugated by warlords
>>> like Microsoft.
>>
>> Before the invention of the printing press there were scriptoria and
>> universities in which new ideas were freely discussed. No copyrights,
>> no patents. This is why Europe advanced so fast in science.
>
> But there was very little education for the poor, and no books for the
> common man, who was mostly illiterate and subjugated by the church, so
> the realm of academia was mostly out of his reach.
>
> [quote]
> At the height of the Hussite crisis in the early 1400's, when the
> authorities ordered 200 manuscripts of heretical writings burned, people
> on both sides realized quite well the significance of that act. Two
> hundred handwritten manuscripts would be hard to replace. Not only
> would it be a time consuming job, but also trained scribes would be hard
> to find. After all, most of them worked for the Church, and it seemed
> unlikely that the Church would loan out its scribes to copy the works of
> heretics. Although the Hussites more than held their own against the
> Church, their movement remained confined mainly to the borders of their
> homeland of Bohemia. One main reason for this was that there was no
> mass media, such as the printing press to spread the word. A century
> later, all that had changed.
>
> ...
>
> The impact of the printing press
>
> The printing press had dramatic effects on European civilization. Its
> immediate effect was that it spread information quickly and accurately.
> This helped create a wider literate reading public. However, its
> importance lay not just in how it spread information and opinions, but
> also in what sorts of information and opinions it was spreading. There
> were two main directions printing took, both of which were probably
> totally unforeseen by its creators.
>
> First of all, more and more books of a secular nature were printed, with
> especially profound results in science. Scientists working on the same
> problem in different parts of Europe especially benefited, since they
> could print the results of their work and share it accurately with a
> large number of other scientists. They in turn could take that
> accurate, not miscopied, information, work with it and advance knowledge
> and understanding further. Of course, they could accurately share their
> information with many others and the process would continue. By the
> 1600's, this process would lead to the Scientific Revolution of the
> Enlightenment, which would radically alter how Europeans viewed the
> world and universe.
> [/quote]
>
> http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/west/11/FC74
>
> Intellectual Monopoly, OTOH, seeks to inhibit that sharing process, by
> making it illegal to have and use certain knowledge, even if you find a
> way to locate and access it. It's like the modern-day equivalent of
> heresy, with companies like Microsoft, Apple, the RIAA, the MPAA and
> others playing the part of the "church" - burning books and persecuting
> those who dare to share knowledge it hasn't sanctioned.
It's actually worse as rather than merely hiding the knowledge they make it a crime
acquire and apply it.
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Dr. Roy S. Schestowitz (Ph.D. Medical Biophysics), Imaging Researcher
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux administration | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Editor @ http://techrights.org & Broadcaster @ http://bytesmedia.co.uk/
GPL-licensed 3-D Othello @ http://othellomaster.com
Non-profit search engine proposal @ http://iuron.com
Contact E-mail address (direct): s at schestowitz dot com
Contact Internet phone (SIP): schestowitz@xxxxxxxxx (24/7)
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