Re: [Patents] Gregnews: US report proves EP lies

[Russell McOrmond <russell@flora.ca>]

PILCH Hartmut wrote:
> >    I guess "Information Technology" would have a place at
> >    http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html , I was surprised not
> >    to find it there yet.
> >
> > I hesitate to say that the term is inherently misleading
> > just because someone is making a silly semantic argument about it.
>
>
> There seems to be an ambiguity in what terms like "technology" and
> "engineering" mean.

  I also believe there is ambiguity of what "software" is as well.  Is 
it a technology itself, or is it a series of logical instructions used 
to control technology?

  I've had this conversation with friends who are in "software 
engineering" programs at University.  I suggest to them that since 
software is more a social science than a natural science, the field of 
software doesn't really belong in engineering at all.   Maybe some 
combination of a math-arts degree?  If you are a follower of Lessig like 
I am, you might believe that software is best analyzed as a form of 
privately authored law -- with law still being an arts degree.

  At least the "computer science" degree I took was more appropriately 
vague as to what type of science the software component was.


  I guess to me that we need to restore patent law, a form of economic 
public policy, to being analyzed as economic public policy.  The 
wordsmithing of extremists like Greg are largely irrelevant to the 
discussion of whether the existence of patents in the field of software 
helps or harms innovation.  Only economic studies are useful for this, 
and pretty much every study I have read suggests they are a chill and 
not an incentive for innovation.

  Other subject matter will be different, so comparing the entirely 
unrelated field of computer hardware to software to indicate something 
about patentability is just "social engineering".

--
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
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