SC - OED? -OT

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Ras writes in response to Thomas:
 
>>       What's wrong paying 300 $ 
>>       for the work of 120 years or so of a whole team of specialists
in word 
>>       history? 
> 
> As you have asked, I will answer. Knowledge should be freely available. that 
> is my answer. 

Yes. I agree. Knowledge should be freely available. I should not have to
pay taxes, and I should not die.

Some points I'd like to make on this issue are that "freely available"
and "free", as in, "free of charge" aren't the same thing, and this
misconception is perhaps due to immersion in the Hippocratic Oath and
the political writings of Horace Mann on the subject of public education
in America. This latter argument doesn't apply to all knowledge, only to
a basic education. 24-hour access to the OED at no cost is not, I think,
included under the basic [assumed] right to an elementary education. You
may have noticed, as I have, that fewer and fewer doctors are putting up
copies of the Hippocratic Oath on their office walls; it is not
necessary and it would place doctors under constraints that would make
it nearly impossible to live in this century.  

It's also perhaps worth noting that there is a long and mostly
unchallenged tradition of payment [in one form or another] for education
throughout world history. Guild records are full of references to
payment in cash, goods or service for a professional education and
access to the tools needed to pursue it. So are university rolls. As I
write this my 9-year-old is out taking part in a demonstration of aikido
techniques at the request of the sensei, or teacher, who runs the school
he attends. He is exchanging service for an education that is arguably
the finest such education available in the Western Hemisphere, just as
the sensei in question performed such service for _his_ late master, the
creator/synthesizer of that particular martial art. The fact that we
also shell out $30 a month to the school is incidental (and also a steal
by the standards set by other schools); it allows them to have light and
heat at the school. The point is that while this education is as freely
available as it is humanly possible to make it under the circumstances,
it is not free of charge. You might also discuss this, in SCAdian terms
with various squires, proteges, and apprentices, and ask them if they
consider their educations free. Ask a squire polishing armor for the
umpteenth time, or an apprentice wiping onion juice out of her eyes.

Now Thomas, as well as various others on this list, is a professional
scholar. I mention this not because we need to go off on tangents
concerning our estimations of "professional scholars" versus those who
do it for the love of learning, but because the fact is that that is how
he feeds his family. At least that's my understanding. He has made every
effort to make several historical cookery sources available for those
with Web access, and he receives no money in return, but he does receive
money for teaching. I believe you provide advice and information on
wines and spirits, among other professional duties. Shouldn't you be
compensated for the time you spend imparting this information? I'm glad
you are, because I don't know how well either you or Thomas would get
along in your personal lives if you were dispensing your knowledge from
within, say, a monastery which provided for your basic physical needs,
but didn't pay you a salary. There's this conflict between having
hobbies but no discretionary funds. Actually, now that I think about it,
monasteries don't teach for free either. 

The unfortunate reality is that it is impossible to to say that the OED
should be an absolutely free public domain resource without ignoring the
many, many thousands of man-hours required to produce it. I also believe
the Great Wall of China was paid for by taxes.    
  
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com