How is the production of goods and services any different than the production of knowledge? What are the raw materials needed to produce knowledge? How were the raw materials created? Were just means used to obtain the raw materials, (in this case previous knowledge and access to it)? How can the effort a knowledge worker uses in producing knowledge artifacts be justly compensated by its users? Is knowledge consumed and should it be considered a finite resource? Why would a knowledge producer willingly create a surplus if he/she was not going to be adequately compensated? How has the cost of obtaining the raw materials to produce knowledge and the cost of distributing the knowledge changed with the internet? Has knowledge become cheaper to manufacture and distribute? Can society afford to let knowledge producers abandon their role over practical issues of compensation? Should intellectual property be protected by copyright when the raw materials used to create it were had through publicly supported grants? Is it logical to think that intellectual property can be distributed throughout society at no cost to the user, yet still provide the knowledge producer a means of just compensation?
Jenny