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From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
To: Gregory Aharonian <srctran@world.std.com>
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In-reply-to: <200307272159.RAA20994@world.std.com> (message from Gregory
	Aharonian on Sun, 27 Jul 2003 17:59:14 -0400 (EDT))
Subject: Re: [Patents] Washington Times: Internet Patents Divide Industry
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Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 11:30:30 -0400
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    >Yes.  But remember that the point is not so much that property is not good,
    >but rather that information as such is of a different character entirely.

    Such a statement is totally ignorant of the latest theories of theoretical
    physics where information is not only physical (and therefore can be a
    property as can be other physical quantities), but also that information
    is more fundamental to physical reality than energy or matter.

These theories are controversial and speculative, but even supposing
they are true, they pertain to a different level of reality.  Atoms
are mostly empty space, but that doesn't mean that if you punch a
steel wall, you can expect your hand to slide through it.  Likewise,
whether the universe is based on differential equations or cellular
automata at the scale of 10e-40 meters is unrelated to the practical
differences between design of software and design of physical
systems..

