[FRIAM] Who wrote the essay?

Robert Holmes rholmes62 at gmail.com
Sat Dec 17 13:25:31 EST 2022 

Here's what I got when I asked ChatGPT "Please draft a PhD research
proposal on The Metaphysics and Ethics of Copyright". Frankly, if Steve's
was from a prospective PhD student, they need to start using ChatGPT :)

—Robert


Title: The Metaphysics and Ethics of Copyright: A Philosophical Analysis

Research Questions:

   - What are the metaphysical foundations of copyright law? How does the
   concept of "intellectual property" fit into traditional metaphysical
   categories such as substance, cause, and essence?
   - How do different ethical theories, such as deontology,
   consequentialism, and virtue ethics, approach the issue of copyright? What
   are the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective?
   - How do the metaphysical and ethical issues surrounding copyright
   intersect with contemporary debates over digital technology, artificial
   intelligence, and the "commons"?

Research Methodology:

   - This research will be primarily philosophical in nature, using
   conceptual analysis and argumentative synthesis to examine the underlying
   assumptions and implications of copyright law.
   - The research will draw on a variety of sources, including legal
   scholarship, philosophy of law, and moral philosophy, as well as case
   studies and empirical data as appropriate.
   - The research will engage with contemporary debates and controversies,
   such as the ongoing conflict between technology companies and content
   creators, and the role of copyright in global economic development.

Expected Contributions:

   - This research aims to provide a more nuanced and comprehensive
   understanding of the metaphysics and ethics of copyright, moving beyond
   simplistic assumptions and polemics.
   - The research will offer a philosophical perspective on the complex and
   multifaceted issues surrounding intellectual property, and will provide a
   framework for further dialogue and reflection on these issues.
   - The research will contribute to the broader fields of philosophy and
   law, and will have practical implications for policy and legal reform.


On Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 10:47 AM Tom Johnson <jtjohnson555 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I can't tell.  While what little I know about the deep dive on Copyright,
> it is a very murky and often contradictory aspect of law.  Sorta like the
> 2nd Amendment: something written by the founders in a time when the context
> it was addressing was quite different from what we have now.
> And I have no idea how well ChatGPT can or does write in the first person.
> And the answer is?????
> TJ
>
> On Sat, Dec 17, 2022 at 12:42 AM Stephen Guerin <
> stephen.guerin at simtable.com> wrote:
>
>> Tom,
>>
>> What do you think? Was this PhD proposal written by a person or ChatGPT?
>>
>> The Metaphysics and Ethics of Copyright
>>>
>>> Abstract
>>>
>>> My project is motivated by a host of problems that arise in the
>>> literature of U.S. copyright law, including legal decisions and established
>>> doctrines that are alternatively arbitrary, counterintuitive, and
>>> contradictory. The central argument of my dissertation is that these
>>> problems arise from a failure in copyright law to recognize the nature of
>>> its objects, authored works, and that a coherent and stable approach to
>>> copyright must be built upon such an understanding. To this end, I outline
>>> a multidimensional ontology of authored works suitable for grounding the
>>> central principles and practical application of copyright.
>>>
>>> Centrally, I contend, a reasonable understanding of copyright depends on
>>> grasping four dimensions of the nature of authored works:
>>>
>>>    1. their atomic dimension, including the parts of which they are
>>>    composed, and the selection and arrangement of these parts;
>>>    2. their causal dimension, including their contexts of creation and
>>>    instantiation, and the weak and strong historical links that connect a
>>>    given work to others (building here on the work of Jerrold Levinson);
>>>    3. their abstract dimension, in particular, pace Nelson Goodman,
>>>    Jerrold Levinson, and Mark Sagoff, that all such works are best understood
>>>    as type/token entities capable of multiple instantiation; and
>>>    4. their categorial dimension, drawing on the work of Kendall
>>>    Walton, such that multiple works belonging to mutually-exclusive categories
>>>    can be embodied in the same physical object.
>>>
>>> On an understanding of these factors, I establish conditions for the
>>> copyrightability of authored works, for the infringement of these
>>> copyrights, and for the creation of derivative works.
>>>
>>> Finally, I consider the right of copyright. First showing how the
>>> strongest contenders for grounding this right—the Lockean and
>>> Constitutional approaches—fail to align with our understanding of authored
>>> works, I proceed to sketch an alternative approach to grounding the right
>>> of copyright—a right based on the author's creativity as realized in the
>>> authored work—building on the ontological account outlined above.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________________________________
>> Stephen.Guerin at Simtable.com <stephen.guerin at simtable.com>
>> CEO, https://www.simtable.com <http://www.simtable.com/>
>> 1600 Lena St #D1, Santa Fe, NM 87505
>> office: (505)995-0206 mobile: (505)577-5828
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 16, 2022 at 11:08 PM Tom Johnson <jtjohnson555 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> https://www.facebook.com/5722102/posts/pfbid0D8i4GuCUJeRsDJjM1JJtfkDYDMCb7Y7RdK2EoyVhRuctg9z2fhvpo1bB2WAxGBzcl/?sfnsn=mo&mibextid=ijjfgs
>>>
>>> =======================
>>> Tom Johnson
>>> Inst. for Analytic Journalism
>>> Santa Fe, New Mexico
>>> 505-577-6482
>>> =======================
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