Subject: Re: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Encyclopedia From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 19:53:21 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3214151599516365@naggum.net> * Ed L Cashin <ecashin@terry.uga.edu> | Something you said on Monday in the context of the value of information | seemed to use the obvious reality of the medium as a way to refute the | supposedly ephemeral nature of information: Could you explain _how_ you got from this to the "value of the medium" conclusion"? I have not talked about the value of information, by the way, nor has it been a context in this discussion. All I have argued is that the idea of software being "intangible" is bogus, because software is as real as anything else we trade. Now we see people talking about the value of information, the uselessness of laws to protect the value of information since it can be copied to easily, and even quantum physics and "energy vs information" mumbo-jumbo. It is frankly pretty amazing. It is a fairly simple philosophical question, with a non-trivial answer, but all these weird consequences and presuppositions make it impossible to discuss it from an interesting angle. /// -- Norway is now run by a priest from the fundamentalist Christian People's Party, the fifth largest party representing one eighth of the electorate. -- Carrying a Swiss Army pocket knife in Oslo, Norway, is a criminal offense.