Technology & Innovation — September 25, 2010

When Copyright Goes Too Far

“Intellectual property law should protect businesses, but too often can be used to stifle the spread of ideas.” The Mises Economic blog on copyright sensibility, or lack thereof.

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“Al Johnson back in 1973 added a Scandinavian-style sod roof and goats grazing on it, to Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant in Wisconsin. This was a brilliant entrepreneurial decision: the goats were very popular–the slogan became ‘Come for the goats–stay for the food.’ So naturally, as success on the market leads to emulation, Tiger Mountain Markets, a restaurant in Georgia, decided to put goats on its roof too. Instead of this local Wisconsin restaurant being proud of its influence, or at least ignoring it and concentrating on providing a good service to its customers, its current owner Lars Johnson bought into the pernicious IP mentality and filed a lawsuit against the Georgia restaurant.”

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A digital illustration of a human brain with blue veins and a glowing light at the top, set against a black background.

The Future

How Neuralink’s chief competitor is tapping into the brain without surgery

“Neurotech is not just about the brain,” says Synchron CTO Riki Banerjee, explaining how their tech can help with paralysis, brain diseases, and beyond.

An abstract illustration features a bell curve with red dots and a percentage labeled 49%. The background includes a monochrome portion of a face with wide-open eyes peeking below the curve.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Bad at probability? That might be a blessing.

How black and white is your thinking?

Image of Earth set against a black background with the text "A Volatile World" in large white letters.

Why does it feel like the world is falling apart?

“We’ve engineered a volatile world where Starbucks is completely unchanging from year to year, but democracies are collapsing and rivers are drying up.”

▸

11 min

—

with

Brian Klaas

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Do gravitons need to exist?

Electromagnetism, both nuclear forces, and even the Higgs force are mediated by known bosons. What about gravity? Does it require gravitons?

A close-up of a neoclassical building's facade with ornate carvings and columns, featuring an emblem at the center, reflects the grandeur often associated with the global elite.

The Present

A surprising share of the global elite went to Harvard

A survey of more than 6,000 of the world’s richest, most influential people shows that 9% of them attended Harvard University.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Audio Immorality

The beat goes on: “Andvinyly, a UK-based outfit, has this offer: after you die, you can have some of your cremated ashes pressed into a vinyl record.”