This rant was prompted by a documentary I saw recently called "absolute unbridled greed and total lack of concern for basic human rights and simple fairness. The film is a few years old but it exposes one, of many, result of corporate controlled government. Being framed as I am, my first thought, only a few minutes into the film, was, "The collapse can't come soon enough!" The nefarious behavior of Monsanto will not exist in the post-carbon world (Monsanto will not exist in the post-carbon world!). The greed driven society we have created in America will end when the energy leveraging ability of cheap oil ceases to enable the few to dominate their cattle (us). When the dust settles in a world made by hand we will be free to find our true selves through honest work and real friendships; unburdened by the invisible hand of oppression. (We all have dreams.)
This would be a good place for you to stop reading and watch the video if you have not. What I have to say may make more sense if we both had, at least, the same images and story line at hand.
One central point to this disgusting story involves some rather esoteric definitions of "intellectual property" and, yet again, the corporate controlled government. One of the Ten Commandments should have been that no life forms can be patented by "civilized" man. (Maybe it was on the tablet that got broken on the way down the mountain.) The question of who owns life forms seems like a non-brainer to me; no one does. Life is not an idea or thing. If somebody is able to re-engineer a life form by manipulating a gene or two they have not created life. It reminds me of Pierre Boulle's discussion on creativity in Planet of the Apes. Aping someone's creativity is not in itself a creative event no matter what lengths are taken to twist and manipulate any portion of an existing masterpiece.
This article appears in May 13-19, 2009.