[sillysaurus3]

I'd be happy to debate, if you're interested. But in the meantime it appears that the anger is misplaced; direct it at the fact that we have this wonderful tool that destroys class barriers and makes knowledge free to all.

You act as if I have $40. Would it surprise you to learn my power was cut off within the last few months?

Another point: "Stealing" implies something was lost. The words are still there, even if I have copied them.

The game industry and the iPhone app store have proven that when you price something closer to $1, it will generate exponentially more revenue than $40.

[sriram_malhar]

My anger isn't misdirected. It is directed exactly at this sentiment of yours: "The words are still there". It is the same whether I came up with a new magic trick, or a song, or a film. Don't fucking steal it because you have this wonderful tool called "copy" that "destroys class barriers". There is plenty of stuff on the internet (mine included) that people have chosen to put up for free; go use those. Or wait 10 years. The words will still be there, and you can get it much cheaper.

There was a lot of energy put behind those words, and I expect to get paid a modest sum for it. The means of knowledge transmission aren't free, just as you discovered that while a river wants to be free, the mechanism of converting it to useful energy and transmitting it to you isn't free.

[sillysaurus3]

People put a lot of energy into programming languages, but they don't expect to get paid anything for it. Why is it different when it comes to publishing a book?

That may sound like a dismissive question, but it's at the crux of our disagreement. If we can resolve that, we might be able to see eye to eye.

[djur]

> The game industry and the iPhone app store have proven that when you price something closer to $1, it will generate exponentially more revenue than $40.

This may be true for mass-market, high-volume products like mobile games, (although even there the real money is in in-app purchases). It is not necessarily true for special-interest, low-volume products like this book. In order for it to be true, you need to assume that over 40 times as many people will buy the book at $1 as will buy it at $40. Frankly, the audience for this book is so narrow that I suspect that they would eventually get three times as many free downloads as they will get sales at $40.

[vnorilo]

Ok, so digital scarcity is engineered, not real, because scarcity makes our economic system work. However, I don't think anyone has come up with a viable post-scarcity model. In some cases like mobile apps and steam sales, big discounts can increase volume to the point where the economic equation works. Sadly, I don't think a book on dependent types is really amenable to that scenario.

[billsix]

> Would it surprise you to learn my power was cut off

Passive verbs are weak (Mistakes were made, versus I made a mistake). You failed to pay your electric bill.