Software Piracy and Arguing the Existence of God
And the question was, “Is it possible to eradicate software piracy?”
I gave a simple “No”.
I don’t know what my friend was thinking when she told me she wanted to answer “Yes.” It was for a subject she was taking for her grad studies: Computer Ethics.
The difficult part was that she merely wanted to answer “Yes” because everyone in her class so far had answered “No”.
Well first of all, I told her, everyone so far had answered no. So did I. The most important reason is that it simply made sense to say “no”. Human nature dictates that whatever measures to stop piracy will be circumvented.
She had a proposition --make everything freeware. If everything were free, then the concept of stealing wouldn’t exist.
Ok, so now we’re going philosophical (not to mention simply “pilosopo” in Filipino). I tried to address this point that it is impossible for this to happen. I heard for one that Microsoft, Intel and some of the other most influential tech companies in the US have been working on open standards for documents, so I pushed that example with a big “BUT…” Well up to the point of document standardization, sure, it’s conceivable to have open standards. But the software that handled those documents? In a utopian universe maybe. In a capitalist one, probably not.
So now back to the original question -- and this is where we head into a whole other discussion...
For this specific case, if you’re going to answer a definite “Yes”, you better darn know what you’re talking about. If you’re going to put in so many conditional hypothetical conditions to support the answer, then you’re really arguing against yourself.
The point is, if you want to be so clever as to give an unthinkable or unpopular answer, you better be more than clever. You have to be brilliant.
The classic story in the Ateneo de Manila involves the philosophy teacher Eduardo Calasanz and Fr. Roque Ferriols, S.J. Calasanz was a student of Fr. Ferriols at the time and there was this one immortal story about answering a “Why” (“Bakit?”) question in a written exam by jotting down two words: “Why not?” (“Bakit hindi?”).
Probably because Fr. Ferriols was curious about his most brilliant student’s answer (or maybe because nobody likes a smart ass), Fr. Ferriols called on Calsanz to explain his answer. Calsanz explained, and he got an “A” for the exam. He later got an A+ for the subject (the only Atenean to get a grade higher than A) because Fr. Ferriols threatened to resign if his request to give an A+ wasn’t granted.
Then I smiled at my friend and said something to the tune of “Well you’re not Calasanz.”
I told my friend about this book that traced a virtual debate between C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud (the title eludes me at the moment). Obviously it’s not a real debate since the two are not even of the same era.
The debate was about the existence of God. The problem was that people were finding that the author seemed to take C.S. Lewis’s side. Freud seemed dry and bitter, while Lewis was brimming with enthusiasm and inspiration.
There is a similarity between arguing the possibility of completely eradicating software piracy and the existence of God. Both are simply difficult to prove. But I think the similarities end there.
First of all, do I want to eradicate software piracy from the Philippines? When I was a student and when I began working as a web guy, I handled copies of software from dubious sources. Back in college, there was probably just one license of Windows being used for hundreds of PC clones. As a fledgling web guy, I got a copy of Photoshop and other graphics and development tools from a friend of mine (and who knows where he got his)?
It’s simple. Aside from the fact that it’s nice to have something for free, most software from US shores was simply too expensive back then – especially for the typical student. That hasn’t changed. But having access to pirated software affords you to be competitive against your first-world brethren. What gives?
[We call the phenomenon the Digital Divide. And there’s no clear solution to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots in the digital world.]
Now, I can afford to buy the software I need, and I can abide by the ethical requirements of anti-software piracy advocates (typically the software companies themselves of course). What do you think is on my computer right now? I would say "I bought everything installed on my computer", but how can you tell? I mean, if I can get it for free, why not stick it up to The Man?
So ask me another question -- do I even want to eradicate software piracy? Back in my home country at least? This is not about sticking it up to The Man. This is about making opportunity available to the average hard-working third world student/corporate slave.
This is why saying “yes, it’s possible to eradicate software piracy” is a conundrum. There are too many parameters to consider. There are too many parameters that you’ll WANT to consider.
NOW, arguing the existence of God, well there you have some possibility.
With piracy -- whether software, music, movies, or whatever -- there is some clear ambivalence. But believing whether or not God existed, you just choose a side.
It gets better either way. In the case of Freud and Lewis, the former breaks down the concept of God as something the human mind conceived (reductionism, I guess) while the latter preaches Christian philosophy. If you don’t believe in the existence of a Divine Source, it’s probably easy to maintain that belief. The arguments would be short. If you’re more on Lewis’s side, it’s easy to believe in eternal life and all things bright and beautiful, right?
Well I'm not C.S. Lewis, but I can probably come up with a convincing enough argument to explain why I believe in God. By its very nature, faith is an open-ended question. You can argue against it all you want but you're not likely to win.
BUT, neither -- I think -- can a believer argue against an aetheist who truly does not want to believe. And why would you do so expecting to convert a non-believer? Religion [or the lack of it] is a personal quest and a personal choice.
You really just pick a side and be happy with it.
[to be continued]
