Re: Who Owns The Singularity? (was: how shall the singularity takeoff?)

From: Michael M. Butler (butler@comp-lib.org)
Date: Fri Dec 28 2001 - 03:05:58 MST


Adrian Tymes wrote:
> I currently work for a subsidiary of West Legal Group, the megacorp that
> owns the copyright on the reference system most US lawyers use to refer
> to US laws and cases. Or, in short: they think they own the law in the
> US, and they're arguably right from a certain point of view.

Well, they own all the page breaks and line numbers, anyway! [obscure Westlaw copyright joke]

> I figured this might be a good way to pump money into practical AI
> development, not to mention start automating away a sector that already
> has far too many people working in it - changing things to a legal code,
> as programmers understand the word "code", and hopefully reducing the
> costs of being sued for something one did not commit (which, in and of
> itself, seems to be one of the biggest factors stifling research and
> experimentation, at least in the US). But unless I can get past the
> interface problem (different interface? different product?), no dice in
> this approach.
>
> Does anyone here has any practical suggestions on how to solve this
> problem?

Only one: no cute bendy paperclips with speech balloons.

However: chat up Greg Burch next time he's in the States
with two spare minutes to rub together. He might laugh, or cry...
or say something useful.

MMB

-- 

MMB is reachable via butler at comp dash lib dot o r g * My moronic mnemonic for smart behavior: "DICKS" == * * diplomacy, integrity, courage, kindness, skepticism. *



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