What follows is the difference between not merely patchwork and pattern, but AGI and narrow AI.
Getting AGI-ers to see that difference is a Herculean task - but looking at that difference in the light of the law may do it. Look at the two mag. covers in http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110222/12002913212/is-copying-idea-magazine-cover-infringement.shtml They are obviously very close. AGI-ers would be tempted in other circumstances to see them as following a common pattern/formula. But if they were, the Russian mag would have no defence in law against the charge of plagiarism. Actually they are members of a collection of patchworks, and the Russian mag, does have a defence, (although it might still lose in some courts). Quite obviously, as the comments in the article make clear, there are many differences in the parts of the two covers/patchworks. And that's one of several differences between patterns and patchworks. Examples of a pattern share the SAME set of parts, while examples of a patchwork have EVERNEW and different, EVERCHANGING parts. An example of a pattern can only have ONE specific part/form at any given point, while a patchwork can have any of an INFINITY of diverse parts.forms at any given point. (That may be too subtle a difference for many AGI-ers to grasp - only one part vs an infinity of parts). The Russian mag, for example, has "substituted" a cock for a flower at the centre, but it could also have used a snake, bear, ball, plate etc... ad infinitum Patterns have RULES, patchworks have NO RULES. And then there's the v. different generative principles of patchworks/patterns. The Russian mag/patchwork clearly hasn't copied a *FORMULA*/algo, (even though AGI-ers believe that everything is generated by formulae/algos.) What the law and our wider culture tell us is that the mags/patchworks copy an IDEA . (You could also call it copying a *concept*). And ideas can have infinitely diverse "expressions"/forms. AGI is not about rigid formulae or algos that can only generate a specific very limited set of patterns,but ideas that can generate a very general, unlimited and infinite diversity of patchworks. Think of how the idea/ concept of *chair* can generate an infinite diversity of chair forms. Or how GO TO THE KITCHEN can generate an infinite diversity of journeys/routes to kitchens. What more precisely is the difference between idea and formula/algo? ANother time. But you should be able to start at least to see the difference. ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
