[OT] Free software versus software idea patents

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 11 Apr 2011 11:17:09 -0700, geremy condra wrote:

> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 2:10 AM, Steven D'Aprano
> <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:
[...]
>> Of course, some mathematics is obvious, or at least intuitive (although
>> proving it rigorously can be remarkably difficult -- after 4000 years
>> of maths, we still don't have an absolutely bullet-proof proof that
>> 1+1=2).
> 
> Erm. This is getting a bit far afield, but yes, we do. The statement you
> provide above part of Presbuger arithmetic, which is both complete and
> decidable.

Ah, I didn't know that! How wonderful! But in any case, Presburger 
arithmetic is much weaker than even Peano arithmetic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presburger_arithmetic

So, let me re-phrase my statement... in any realistically complex 
arithmetic that is consistent with operations performed for real-world 
applications (e.g. multiplication, division, exponentiation, ...), one 
cannot demonstrate a bullet-proof proof of 1+1=2. Better? :)

Presburger arithmetic, Peano arithmetic, the Axiom of Choice... we're 
getting further and further away from "natural" mathematics, e.g. 
counting sheep in a field.


[...]
>> Part of the patent problem is that the distinction between discovery of
>> a fact (which should not be patentable) and invention (which, at least
>> sometimes, should be patentable) is not clear. The iPod existed as a
>> Platonic ideal in some mathematical bazillion-dimensional abstract
>> design space long before it was invented by Apple; does that make it a
>> discovery rather than an invention? On the other hand, it is doing
>> Apple a great disservice to ignore their creativity in finding that
>> design point, out of the infinite number of almost-iPods that suck[3]
>> or don't work.
> 
> I agree. Of course, your post existed as a billion-point platonic ideal
> beforehand, so you can't really claim credit (man, Plato figured
> *everything* out!), but still.

Damn Library of Babel, it has *everything* in it.


Anyway, this is now getting off-topic even for the original off-topic 
post. Time to move on, methinks.


-- 
Steven