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Re:Publishers File Suit Against Internet Archive by bllguo on Monday June 01, 2020 @06:15PM (#23384642)
but this is _not_ just a distribution problem like you seem to be implying. Yes, digital solves distribution, so we are post-scarcity in that sense, but someone also needs to put in the intellectual labor to write a book in the first place. That has always been scarce. And if you don't incentivize it properly, people will have no reason to put in the effort to write books.
Re:Publishers File Suit Against Internet Archive by the_af on Monday June 01, 2020 @07:23PM (#23385274)
I assure you, writers will write books even if nobody paid them. This is not to say it's ok if they have to live under a bridge because they can't support themselves. But writers write, and for a lot of them money is not the primary motivation, just a welcome (and important) one.

Likewise, painters will paint even if nobody will buy their paintings.

That's art for you.