Why Science is Better with Communism? The Case of Sci-Hub

Abstract

In my talk at the Open Access Symposium, held at the University of North Texas in 2016, I explore how intellectual property rights became an obstacle to the progress of science, and why science and communism are essentially equal.

(I was invited as a founder of Sci-Hub website and participated remotely via Skype)

Full text

SCI-HUB
Quick Facts:
created in 2011
immediately popular solving
40 paywalled papers / hour
now > 200,000 paper daily
gained massive support from user donations
used everywhere in the world,
not poor-country-specific

sci-hub is breaking intellectual property laws
can knowledge
be a property?
what is
property?
copyright law was under the
active debate recently
SOPA PIPA etc.

I want all to have a share of everything
and all property to be in common; there
will no longer be either rich or poor; no
longer shall we see one man harvesting
vast tracts of land, while another has
not ground enough to be buried in
I shall begin by making land, money,
everything that is private property,
common to all. Then we shall live on
this common wealth
Assemblywomen, 391 BC
do we need any
property at all?

Not a handful of rich people, but all the
working people must enjoy the fruits of
their common labour. Machines and
other improvements must serve to ease
the work of all and not to enable a few
to grow rich at the expense of millions
and tens of millions of people
Vladimir Lenin
Revolution! a mass
protest against property
striving for equality

science and communism are inseparable

Theft! a small protest
against property
striving for equality
•Robin the Hood
•Hong Gildong
•Ishikawa Goemon
•Алдар-Косе
•Hermes Greek god
...
government
taxation system?
Sci-Hub fits
‘natural law’

The goal of Hermes' ambition is equality with Apollo … Hermes and
Apollo are contrasting figures in Greek mythology
The theme of strife between Hermes and Apollo translates into
mythical language the insurgence of the Greek lower classes and
their demands for equality with the aristocracy
Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth
By Norman O. Brown
Hermes, the patron of theft
... now they are the nobility, and those
who were noble before, now they are
nobodies
Theognis of Megara, VI century BC

Crossing the boundaries of property
"Crossing the boundary" was,
in the eyes of the primitive
Greeks, the essence of trade
and economic enterprise: the
standard Greek words for
"buy" and "do business" are
derived from a root meaning
"beyond, across." Thus
Hermes the god of the
boundary-stone became the
god of trade
Hermes the Thief:
The Evolution of a Myth
By Norman O. Brown
private property
is about
withholding something
locked within boundaries
or behind paywalls
theft trade
communication
is about
making something free
to move or common

Theft! the root of all sciences
Egyptian god of knowledge identified with Hermes

Theft! the root of all sciences
the forbidden tree?

Theft! the root of all sciences
“Athena taught Prometheus astronomy, mathematics,
architecture, navigation, metalworking, writing, and other
useful skills. He later passed this knowledge on to humans”

...the professed aim of all scientific work is
to unravel the secrets of nature
James Clerk Maxwell
Theft! the root of all sciences
secret is something being kept privately

Robert K. Merton
Mertonian norms of science
Communism – the common ownership
of scientific discoveries, according to
which scientists give up intellectual
property in exchange for recognition
Universalism
Disinterestedness
Organized skepticism
...gather wealth just sufficient for his subsistence
Manusmriti, tr. by Patrick Olivelle
Plato’s communism

summary →
science as part of culture conflicts private
property and copyright
science communication is twice conflicting
open science is returning science to its true
essence
points
thanks for watching!