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Iron Man 2

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This may be a bit of a spoiler;

but is there no case where a military violation of copyrights could be morally justified?

No, no there isn't. As long as he isn't violating anyone's rights by initiating force against someone, you cannot, under any circumstances, take his property and be morally justified in doing so.

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To Lasse:

If you're in a rights respecting country where the military's job is to protect from foreign threats then letting the military have any product they deem necessary for free is pretty much the opposite of the ideals of the country. Why would such a country be worth defending?

You mention "Wouldn't it be moral......in a lifeboat scenario." However, ethics does not apply in emergencies. In a real emergency one cannot say "It would be moral or immoral to do X." Also importantly, the military in the story was not under any kind of emergency at all, and there was actually no threat of any men dying at all, the world was at peace. It was quite obvious that the Senate committee and Hammer Industries were in cahoots to obtain the Iron Man technology for nefarious reasons.

I loved the movie, I thought it was even better than the first one. On the subject of needing to look to comic books for industrial heroes, how is that different from looking to science fiction novels for them? Fiction has always been a source for spiritual fuel in the form of heroes that will always stand the test of time. If you found a hero in Tiger Woods, you were probably disappointed. John Galt will never disappoint you.

Edited by Jackethan
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If a country was free in every aspect besides that it violated the intellectual property of armsmakers then it would obviously still be worth defending, as it would not be a significant enough negative. USA today is far from this, which comparatively would be quite the ideal-state, and is despite of that obviously worth defending atm.

I do however recognize that it is somewhat of a silly question, as a scenario where the armstrade based in the US would be unwilling to trade with the US military with regards to lifesaving weaponry seems quite unlikely - but it was a subject I have not previously considered, which is not a frequent experience when applying objectivism to concrete politics.

I assume you would agree that the military can temporarily confiscate private property during a military campaign if they view it as necessary to defend the nation? (Such as stationing soldiers in a private estate to withstand an invasion, etc) - if so, would this not also apply to the requisition of intellectual property given that there where no other ways of gaining that military advantage?

The point has been made that lifeboat ethics does not apply to the realm of ethics, but in this case that would be kind of silly considering that any case involving how to win a war necessarily would fall under a lifeboat context (the movie is an exception to this, so in that context im not advocating that the government should be able to steal his technology).

In such a context, I cant see any way that violating the intellectual property rights of the manufacturer would not be a selfish and legitimate act.

Or am I missing something?

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I like how Tony Stark's father is a tall, gaunt and coldly rational industrialist named Howard Stark, and that he

hid the key to everything within his architectural designs.

Heh, the impression I got was of Walt Disney...the sixties-era film, the "World of Tomorrow..." The mustache...

Edited by spaceplayer
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