Eric Cline
Member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2018
- Messages
- 6
Hi All,
There was, as I recall it, a Hugo or Nebula Winner for short story as I recall that was a truly amazing read and I am hoping somebody can help me identify this other book too (Thanks again to those that helped me find the Book Of Skaith trilogy). This short story I am searching for was also possibly just in a collection of sci-fi stories and NOT a Hugo/Nebula winner so I could be mistaken about that.
This story, as I recall, is set entirely in some congresswomen's/senator's office wherein a man was arguing for changes in copyright and patent law. It was something I read in the late 1970s and the setting is a few hundred years in the future, definitely the USA.
Its a fascinating read because it is easy to extrapolate this story as actually happening reasonably soon. The protagonist is trying to get congress or the senate, or whatever it's equivalent was in the USA some hundreds of years in the future, to change the law because, as he argued, EVERYTHING HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE/CREATED.
I know it does not make much logical sense in my retelling what I recall - after all I personally have 6 patents and I know that they expire (e.g. like the pharmaceuticals that go generic) in like 20 years and such. But nonetheless, the protagonist was essentially trying to argue in this short story that creative people needed the ability to basically "re-invent" things that have already been invented over the prior two thousand years. So its probably a copyright thing not a patent thing.
In some ways the setting itself is so unique (just two people talking in an office) that I am hoping that can help IID this story. The setting reminds me the wonderful film My Dinner with Andre. I recall being deeply moved by this story so if anyone can remember I will build a shrine in your name
There was, as I recall it, a Hugo or Nebula Winner for short story as I recall that was a truly amazing read and I am hoping somebody can help me identify this other book too (Thanks again to those that helped me find the Book Of Skaith trilogy). This short story I am searching for was also possibly just in a collection of sci-fi stories and NOT a Hugo/Nebula winner so I could be mistaken about that.
This story, as I recall, is set entirely in some congresswomen's/senator's office wherein a man was arguing for changes in copyright and patent law. It was something I read in the late 1970s and the setting is a few hundred years in the future, definitely the USA.
Its a fascinating read because it is easy to extrapolate this story as actually happening reasonably soon. The protagonist is trying to get congress or the senate, or whatever it's equivalent was in the USA some hundreds of years in the future, to change the law because, as he argued, EVERYTHING HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE/CREATED.
I know it does not make much logical sense in my retelling what I recall - after all I personally have 6 patents and I know that they expire (e.g. like the pharmaceuticals that go generic) in like 20 years and such. But nonetheless, the protagonist was essentially trying to argue in this short story that creative people needed the ability to basically "re-invent" things that have already been invented over the prior two thousand years. So its probably a copyright thing not a patent thing.
In some ways the setting itself is so unique (just two people talking in an office) that I am hoping that can help IID this story. The setting reminds me the wonderful film My Dinner with Andre. I recall being deeply moved by this story so if anyone can remember I will build a shrine in your name
