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Re: CHAT: facing your own mortality (as a conlanger)

From:<li_sasxsek@...>
Date:Saturday, July 12, 2008, 3:26
> [mailto:CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu] On Behalf Of Nomad of
Norad -- David C Hall
> > On Wed, 2 Jul 2008 23:05:22 -0400, Dana Nutter wrote: > > > >> I know other believe differently, and they are entitled to
do
> >> so, but my philosophy is when I'm gone, I'm nothing more
than
> >> food for the worms whether anyone remembers me or not.
Leaving
> >> something behind means nothing to me. > > > > That's a rather bleak and cynical outlook, I must say. > > > > I know that I don't know what happens to me after I die, > > but apart from this _scio ut nescio_ I firmly believe > > that we are here with a purpose, namely to make the world > > a better and more beautiful place. And that means that we > > *should* care about the rest of the world, even beyond our > > own lifespans. > > Indeed, he seems to be going into this with the attitude that,
unless
> his material is preserved *only* the way *he* wants it
preserved *and*
> *no* *other* *way*, then he seemingly doesn't want it
preserved *at* *all*. No, I'm going into it with the attitude that I really don't care *if* any of my work is preserved at all. If someone wants to take the materials I've published in PDF's, print them out and lock them in a hermetically-sealed time vault, that's fine with me but I'm not going to go through all that trouble. They are published online for the benefit of those who are interested in the languages, and may want to study and learn them. If nobody finds them interesting, that's fine too. I do this more for my own intellectual stimulation that anythings else.
> That just rankles me. > > In any event, control is an illusion. We don't really HAVE
full control
> over how our information propagates out from us or is stored
by others
> once it leaves our fingers, *nor* *should* *we*. Once a piece
of
> information -- such as a conlang -- passes beyond our walls
into the
> outside world, there IS no real control of where it goes,
what people do
> with it, or how it gets collated by others. It could be
sliced and
> diced, remixed, spindled, mutilated, or otherwise monkeyed
with, and
> we'd have no way to stop it. *And* *we* *shouldn't*. It has
become the
> property of society, of civilization in general, by that
point. From a purely legal perspective we do have some control by excerising copyrights. The way the trends are moving, I wouldn't be surprised if intellectual property rights become infinite. On the realistic side though, things do get copied and passed around so there surely isn't total control.
> Sorry, Dana. :D
No worries.