Poll: Is stealing an idea from the future wrong?

[Leemaster777]

So, a certain moral dilemma regarding time travel recently dawned on me: Is it immoral to "steal" ideas from the future?

Basically, if you could time travel into the future (with no negative consequences and no paradoxes), and learn ideas for technology, would it be stealing to patent those ideas in the present?

Really, you didn't actually come up with the idea yourself, someone else did, and you simply took the credit (and the money) for yourself. On the other hand, the person in question hasn't actually THOUGHT of the idea themselves yet (or they don't even exist yet), so is it really stealing if they never had it in the first place?

Remember, this isn't a discussion of the morality or dangers of time travel itself. This is simply about whether it's moral to take an idea from the future, and patent it as your own in the present.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Something I've been wondering about. Also, whether it is moral to do the same from an alternative Earth.

I'd actually been thinking about novels, though...imagine stealing Harry Potter. Though, it'd be interesting to see how well the same work did under different circumstances, whether society was ready for it, or the marketing was as good, and so on.

 

[Leemaster777]

Something I've been wondering about. Also, whether it is moral to do the same from an alternative Earth.

I'd actually been thinking about novels, though...imagine stealing Harry Potter. Though, it'd be interesting to see how well the same work did under different circumstances, whether society was ready for it, or the marketing was as good, and so on.

Exactly what I'm talking about. It doesn't JUST have to be technology. Ideas for fiction, fashion, and pretty much ALL media are part of my question as well.

 

[Lilikins]

To be perfectly honest, in my opinion, no.

My train of thought would be along the lines of this...

Lets say you steal...something from the future, an idea of techonology for all I care lets say..ehh, some medicine that cures..donno, cancer.
Through doing so, you saved hundreds of thousands of lives and you brought something that was 'not known' properly here. Henceforth, that object could be identified/thoroughly researched and through doing so enabling more technological advancements in the process.

On the flipside, lets say you steal a system from the future that is making big bucks, once again, youd basically be boosting up technology by quite a few years most easily noticable in the fact for instance, look at PC's nowadays and how they were in the 80's.

So even though it would be stealing technically, the advancement of the technology in this era would be boosted enabling even higher futuristic...stuff in that era you nicked it from.

Though if you nick a book or some item from fashion or something thats famous, as above said Harry Potter. Ever had the thought 'Damn, I wish I wouldve thought of that...', go for it haha. Though to be perfectly honest I wouldnt be nicking off of someone like J.K.Rowling who was having a tough time anyways when she originally wrote the books. I'd nick an idea off of someone who already had more then enough money anyways.


Long story short, the pro's outweigh the con's.

Sidenote: Of course one of the con's would be all the corporate chaps nicking off of you and using it to exploit money maybe even build weapons of mass destruction..or something.. but Ill just go on a limb and assume whatever you bring back would not bring the world to its end.

 

[krazykidd]

My problem with any kind of time travel , and taking stuff, is that we don't know how it's going to affect anything. It's definately possible that taking a cure for cancer in the future, could lead in the world being a worst place . But i don't think that's what this thread is about.

My answer is yes. Basically, there needs to be a certain order. And altering that order for any reason is bad. If we don't have it now, we probably just aren't ready for it.

 

[Foolery]

Nope. If capitalism has taught me anything, it's ok to steal people's ideas even in the present. Just don't get caught. Or alter it enough, that they can't touch you. Also stealing future ideas would be brilliant. How could anyone claim you stole it? They wouldn't know, they'd just attribute the invention to you.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Yes, I think so. You're taking credit for something that you haven't done- it's wrong in the same way as cheating on a test is wrong, or telling a girl that you totally wrestled a bear once.

It's completely dishonest. Imagine someone tells you that hey, you would have written Lord of the Rings, but J.R.R Tolkein is a dick, traveled into the future and stole your notes, then published it the past. You would be pretty pissed off.

[small]...Actually, come to think of it, if that happened you would have been influenced by J.R.R Tolkein and it's all gone a bit Terminator.[/small]

 

[Scarim Coral]

I would say both yes and no. Yes it is moral wise and it is also no due to the alter history. I mean depending on different timeline theory, it could just branch off from the main one (the original person who came up with the idea) or just an alter history which both lead to the future original person being changed by no longer coming up with the idea.
Even then there is nothing anyone can do to oust out the person had stole the idea and the only repercussions would be the idea went wrong because the person who stole the idea did not fully understood the idea.

 

[TakerFoxx]

I'm going to go with yes, at least from a moral sense. Because while the original creator might not be born yet, you're still taking away all the credit and recognition away from them and changing the life they would have had. You didn't do the work, so you don't deserve the credit. This is doubly so if it's a creative idea, like for a book or a movie. I've been developing ideas for stories my whole life, and the thought of finally making it only for someone to take it all away without me never knowing is terrifying.

 

[Asita]

Important question: Is it a stable time loop? Because if it is, then technically the reason they have it at all is because you already stole it and it might well not exist for them if you did not. Time travel can be fun like that.

 

[Vigormortis]

In a moral/ethical sense, I don't know. There's points to be made for either case, though either will inevitably delve into a case of infinite regress. (if we can steal the idea from the future, it's hypothetically possible for someone from the past, or someone who's traveled to the past, to steal it from us, and so on, and so on) If a discovery from the future could save millions of lives today, then one could argue it would be "moral" to take the idea. But then again, there's no telling how events will pan out with such a sudden change to the time line. Which leads us to the question, "Do we have the right to alter future events in such a manner?"

It's quite the conundrum.

However, if we're looking at it as "wrong" in the logistical sense, then yes. Absolutely.

The very notion is so paradoxical we could spend hours discussing the issues and problematic outcomes. So looking at it as a moral dilemma is a moot point.

Though, as a mental exercise, it's pretty entertaining to think about.

 

[Tamayo]

As the question presumes a logical impossibility, i.e. effects preceding causes, then it is fruitless to discuss the consequence of the action. It is very, very similar to the question, "Could God create a stone so heavy even He could not lift it?"

 

[Jadak]

Something I've been wondering about. Also, whether it is moral to do the same from an alternative Earth.

I'd actually been thinking about novels, though...imagine stealing Harry Potter. Though, it'd be interesting to see how well the same work did under different circumstances, whether society was ready for it, or the marketing was as good, and so on.

An alternate Earth makes the morality aspect pretty irrelevant. With the future, the case could be made that all you're really changing is the victims perception of the theft, as they'll never know you stole from them, or not that even lost anything, but you are indeed still robbing them of said opportunity.

But an alternate Earth? None of that applies.

 

[Colour Scientist]

To answer the thread question though, I guess it would still technically count as plagiarism, but it could never be proven (except by someone else with a time machine, but then things get really screwy).

What if you travelled in time to plagiarise a time machine which you then used to go back to future to plagarise...wait, what?

 

[Iwantstuff]

I guess it depends on what kind of time travel.

If we're talking about real-world time travel it wouldn't be an issue, because we'd have no way to get back to the "present day." Time travel is a one-way ticket (At least, we haven't found a way we could theoretically travel back), so we wouldn't be able to bring anything back to exploit.

Now if it's Sci Fi/Fantasy time travel where you CAN go back to the past, then it gets a little more iffy. Personally I agree with Lilykins in that the pros outweigh the cons when bringing back some technology/information that can make a significant impact on our society for the better.

 

[Skratt]

I think the question you are trying to ask is: Is it immoral to steal an idea from someone else if ?

So, in order to answer the question, first start with, is it always immoral to steal an idea from someone else? Only if you can answer no to that question can you even begin to explore specific instances of when it is immoral and when it is not immoral.

I say no to the base question. I think there are very valid reasons to steal from someone, but I think that guidelines would have to be created and somehow enforced.

And yet, the very idea of an idea being stolen by using time travel creates the perfect alibi - prove I stole it! So, that's not a very good thing. Let's just hope we never invent time travel.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Wait a minute...

if you brought back a concept, idea or piece of technology from the future to the present, then the need for that idea to come to be wouldn't exist, therefore the original thinker wouldn't have needed to come up with the idea, causing a paradox.

Objectively: no, because it would tear the very fabric of reality apart.

Subjectively: no, because that would be...

stealing...

 

[zerragonoss]

I think a lot of people seem to be missing that it's not just taking the idea and bringing it back but that your doing if for personal gain. over all if you are bring back something like the cure for cancer to help people that is good even if someone down the line losses credit but you are stealing something for personal gain than it is wrong. So basically the same rules as for stealing without the time travel change.