David R Koepsell – författare

This work is an examination of how intellectual property laws should be applied to cyberspace, software and other computer-mediated creations. Is software a creation to be patented, like an invented machine or process, or is it an original expression to be copyrighted, like drawings and books? This distinction is artificial, argues the author, and is responsible for the growing legal problems related to intellectual property law. Computer-mediated objects are no different from books, songs, or machines and do not require any special treatment by the law. Koepsell suggests revisions to the legal framework itself which prevent this artificial and problematic distinction, and simplify the protection of all intellectual property.

Is software a creation to be patented, like an invented machine or process, or an original expression to be copyrighted, like drawings and books? This distinction is artificial, argues Koepsell, and is responsible for the growing legal problems related to intellectual property law. Computer-mediated objects are no different from books, songs, or machines and do not require any special treatment by the law. The author suggests revisions to the legal framework itself which prevent this artificial and problematic distinction, and simplifies the protection of all intellectual property.

Breaking Bad, hailed by Stephen King, Chuck Klosterman, and many others as the best of all TV dramas, tells the story of a man whose life changes because of the medical death sentence of an advanced cancer diagnosis. The show depicts his metamorphosis from inoffensive chemistry teacher to feared drug lord and remorseless killer. Driven at first by the desire to save his family from destitution, he risks losing his family altogether because of his new life of crime. In defiance of the tradition that viewers demand a TV character who never changes, Breaking Bad is all about the process of change, with each scene carrying forward the morphing of Walter White into the terrible Heisenberg. Can a person be transformed as the result of a few key life choices? Does everyone have the potential to be a ruthless criminal? How will we respond to the knowledge that we will be dead in six months? Is human life subject to laws as remorseless as chemical equations? When does injustice validate brutal retaliation? Why are drug addicts unsuitable for operating the illegal drug business? How can TV viewers remain loyal to a series where the hero becomes the villain?Does Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty rule our destinies? In Breaking Bad and Philosophy, a hand-picked squad of professional thinkers investigate the crimes of Walter White, showing how this story relates to the major themes of philosophy and the major life decisions facing all of us.

This volume considers the numerous philosophical ideas and arguments found in and inspired by the critically acclaimed series Breaking Bad.