I realize that I got us waaaaay off on the wrong foot, and I want to stop it right now.

I have been guilty of doing what everyone left of the exact political center always does: pick fights with other people on the same basic team.

I mean, maybe you even consider yourself a libertarian, or fully unsubscribe yourself from any of these terms. Whatever. The point is, I think you and I both agree that the major problem in ALL industries = 1% capitalists, sucking up resources and being basically the only ones getting paid, despite doing essentially none of the labor.

I recognize that I was being incredibly rude to you. I apologize. Can you at least admit that maybe I’m not guilty of “cracking the money whip,” just because I want to see the actual engineers and creators being rewarded and living good lives, rather than eking out horrible existences, and yet still being expected to create all the software, gratis?

Basically, I don’t know how you would fill in the following blank: “In my vision of utopia, software engineers would get the money and resources they need to live from _______.”

I honestly don’t fully know how to fill in that blank, myself. But I’m just saying, I don’t believe the best idea is to have people acquiring all the complex and complicated skills necessary to make complex and complicated products…but then having to work jobs that are completely unrelated to software engineering, and only donating their truly rare engineering skills, in their spare time.

If anyone is to receive profits from software, it should be the engineers who create it. Just as a wild stab in the dark, I would suggest that software patents should still exist, but should be drastically cut from their current length of 20 years. And they should only be held by the actual people who do the actual innovation and creation. And they should get all the related money, rather than some goddamn holding company who employs them. And no copyrights for software (with the exception of narrative elements, in games or interactive entertainment software).

You might still disagree. You might still believe it really would be better for people to drive a truck, or pick fruit in the fields, or be a hairdresser, or whatever, and literally just donate their time and skills to make software. I believe that would be impossible, in the case of incredibly complex stuff, like most modern hardware drivers, advanced simulation and rendering software, etc. You have to devote literal years of study time to gain the background that you need, to even begin to contribute to that stuff. There just won’t be enough pure, part-time volunteers for that.

But maybe you think those engineers should simply be paid by the state. I’m actually open to that, even though that surely has its own pitfalls.

All I’m saying is, I’m not some kind of raging anarcho-capitalist, just because I personally want the engineers to get compensated. But even then, not to the point of excessive, stupid wealth. I am on the “eat the rich” team, through and through.