>By the way, I'm enjoying this exchnage. Don't let a >forceful argument be mistaken for anger ;-) There's >been too much of that lately on the >list. >Steven Desjardins
I too am enjoying this interaction - thank you for mentioning that. The only problem is that, though I am rarely at a loss for words, I honestly don't know how to respond to your statement (below). > If you could > create an atom by atom copy of a painting by > Picasso, then I would argue > that the two really are identical because if you > turned your back I > could do the shell game and you couldn't tell them > apart. Maybe we have reached an impasse because I don't know how to continue. It is like if two people were debating abortion and one person honestly stated that there was nothing at all wrong with any sort of murder or the other person honestly stated that there is nothing wrong with taking away all of a woman's rights. (I am not stating a preference for either argument, but only saying that if either side expressed these beliefs, continuing a debate about abortion would be senseless because there is no agreement about the more fundamental predicates of the debate.) I am not trying to slander your argument or even claim it is "wrong," but only say that it is so far from my belief system that I cannot begin to understand how it could be thought true. Lastly... >In literature, on the other hand, Hamlet has >always been "copyable". Literature does not consist in the appearance of print on page, which is what is copyable. Truly copying Shakespeare would be "authoring" (including dreaming up) Hamlet again. No one is capable of this. This is precisely how process of creation comes into play. Just because I can photocopy Shakespeare doesn't make my copying equivalent to the work of Skakespeare. In the same way, Picasso's painting is a Picasso because it was made by Picasso, regardless of appearance. Even a Picasso dropped in a lake washing the canvas almost clean is more a Picasso than a gorgeous photocopy of it before it was dropped in the Lake (which of course would resemble our memory of the original more closely than the damaged one does). As I said, I'm sorry if we are not making progress at this point. I feel like I am circling around the same point repeatedly without enlightening anyone. Perhaps my thinking and communication is out of its bounds and I should leave off. [Cheers heard thoughout the PDML!] Take care- Chaso ===== Chaso DeChaso "Less is more cheap" - Osvaldo Valdes, Architect __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site http://webhosting.yahoo.com/
