CHAPTER 5
Discrepancies between Two Worlds
In our previous conversation we tried to clarify where the place for culture beyond arts is. We have found it everywhere. As soon as creativity and dialog take place, this place becomes one of culture. But what remains? Where does human life beyond culture belong, that is, beyond creativity and dialog? I believe that is civilization. Obviously, culture and civilization play different roles in our lives. Let us take one example.
Copyright and patent related laws in the United States are all based on the 8th item of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which states that one of the powers of Congress is “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
My assumption is … actually, why play games? It is not an assumption. To the best of my knowledge, the idea of exclusive rights does not correspond to the nature of the subject. Exclusive rights cannot be imposed on cultural phenomena (writings, discoveries and so forth).
Now, we have an assumption too. Exclusive rights cannot provide for the promotion of the progress of science. Exclusive rights are the wrong means for the declared goal, period. They cannot work; they do not work. They cause huge problems due to the conflict between these wrong means and the subject (culture) they apply to.
This is a crucial and decisive point. The worlds of culture and civilization are different. They develop under different laws, although they relate to and depend on one another.
Many people realize that the difference exists. This is also reflected in understanding of certain human rights in the Western World. Ownership of real property (belonging to the world of
