Re: [ProgSoc] software and food recipes

[James Wan <jwan@nospam.student.law.uts.edu.au>]

On Thu, 10 May 2001, Matt Beauregard wrote:

> On Thu, May 10, 2001 at 04:24:59PM +1000, James Wan wrote:
> > > Recipes get better by people passing them around, scrutinising them,
> > > adding things, trying different flavour combinations.
> > 
> > How does that help the original chef, who probably laboured for hours
> > using trial and error to get the right flavours and texture, spending his
> > money on ingredients and heating, only to find his mate across the road
> > just pinched his recipe for no money at all?
> 
> Let's assume that the recipe was for a delicious, full-bodied cream
> pie.  Now as you say, one person has had to spend his money on heat
> and ingredients, and as you don't say, the other person also has to
> spend his money on heat and ingredients.  But at the end two chefs
> both have creamy cream pies, with which they can hit Bill Gates at his
> next speaking engagement.  Thus, we can conclude that all chefs are
> Marxists.

What you fail to say is that the second chef (the one ripping off the
first one), spends 0 time and 0 money on the development of the recipe,
and from his first attempt is able to make an exact replica of the
finished product.

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