I don't want to be the frog at the bottom of the well

 

Here, I want to start with a story that I came up with：

There is a frog, and it lives in a well. It looked at the sky of the wellhead every day and sighed, wow! The world is so small and so beautiful. 

Suddenly one day a bird flew over the well. The bird looked at the frog in the well and laughed and said, haha, you are really stupid. In fact, the outside world is not only so small at the mouth of the well, but also the outside world is big, with flowers, trees, and grass. 

The frog is very curious. He asks the bird, "What does a flower look like?"

The bird answers, "I cannot tell you!"

The frog asks, "What is the tree look like?" 

The bird answers, "I cannot tell you that!"

The frog asks, "What does the grass look like?" 

The bird answers, "I still cannot tell you. If you want to know what they look like, you need to come out and see for yourself." 

The frog gritted his teeth and said, "All right! Then I come out and see them by myself!"

The bird stop the frog and said, "You cannot come out unless you have our permission because the outer world belongs to us!" 

After hearing this, the frog stands in silence.

This story ends! Here, I want to say that I do not want to be that frog at the bottom of the well, but I do not seem to have much choice. I understand the benefits of intellectual property. It protects the interests of the creators. It prevents others from stealing and pirating the work of others. It allows the creator to focus on his work or research with greater peace of mind and concentration. All these have brought a lot of benefits to creators just like Boyle said in his The Why of Intellectual Property, but these benefits have also invisibly built countless high walls to prevent creativity just as Boyle said in his Thomas Jefferson Writes A Letter. Then, we were forced to live at the bottom of the well just like that frog.

If the frog cannot get out of the well, how can he imagine how big and beautiful the world is out there? Like if we cannot use some resources, how can we create something new on this knowledge? Here, I agree that intellectual property limits our creativity. Boyle mentioned such an idea in his articles The Second Enclosure Movement and The Internet Threat, that resources on the Internet are different from things in the real world. If someone else owns your car in the real world, you lose your car, but if your files are shared online, you still own your files. I really agree with that and I think the existing intellectual property protection on the Internet seems to be going too far. These intellectual property rights make it easy for us to step on landmines. It is easy to infringe on other people's intellectual property without even realizing it. This makes us very timid and difficult to develop and create.

Another interesting point! If the frog had never seen what a flower looked like, how can the frog like the flower? Boyle uses The video recorder example in his article The Internet Threat. He noted that the advent of video cameras was not seen as a threat or a loss to cinemas. However, we must not forget that the losses are less than the benefits. There is an old saying in China (Yes, I am going to mention my country's culture again), "Lose money and gain fame." This means that a temporary loss will give you fame. Imagine if your friend secretly shared a great Disney movie with you and you watched it without paying for it. There are two things going on here. First Disney lost the chance to earn your money for watching this movie. Second, you become interested in Disney movies, and you will pay more attention to Disney movies in the future. Here, Disney lost the money but gained fame. Personally, I think fame is more important than money. If you have fame, you will have easier access to money. If you are not famous, it is hard to get money. Disney may not have received your money to see the movie, but his movie made you fall in love with Disney. In this way, you will be more likely to recommend Disney movies to others in the future, and Disney will become more famous and more profitable. All of these are my personal opinions. Go back to the very first sentence, which is if the frog had never seen what a flower looked like, how can the frog like the flower? Now you can think of it as, how can you love Disney if you have never had a chance to see a Disney movie? If you do not have access to resources, how do you know which resource you like and will be useful to you? Finally, I want to ask you again, did these non-open resources gain or lose?

Watching! Here comes the readings!

• Boyle, J. (2010). The Why of Intellectual Property. In The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind. Yale University Press.
• Boyle, J. (2010). Thomas Jefferson Writes a Letter. In The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind. Yale University Press.
• Boyle, J. (2010). The Second Enclosure Movement. In The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind. Yale University Press.
• Boyle, J. (2010). The Internet Threat. In The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind. Yale University Press.