IdeaPledge: A Decentralized Ethical Patent System for the XXI Century - tchncs
## IdeaPledge: A Decentralized Ethical Patent System for the XXI Century The
Problem: Current patent laws protect corporate speculators, not creators. Ideas
are often stolen or “locked away,” while the original thinkers receive nothing.
The Solution: IdeaPledge is a Fediverse-integrated layer for the “Idea Economy”
that values ethics over litigation. ## How it works: * Proof of Concept: Patent
anything (from a startup plan to a joke) by simply posting it. IPFS/Wayback
Machine acts as a timestamp. * Merit-Based Pricing (Me): The community, not a
bureaucrat, determines the “Merit” of an idea. * Progressive Pledge: Commercial
users pay a small, transparent percentage of revenue (5%–10%) based on the total
Merit of used ideas. * The “Chernyshev Principle”: To prevent greed, I (the
author) cap my personal income from this system at 2 average salaries
(~$3000/mo). Everything above goes to charities (PETA, Climate funds, etc.). ##
Trust & Enforcement (The Gravitas Protocol): We don’t need lawyers; we need
Reputation. 1. Covenant: A digital “handshake.” By using the idea, you agree to
the pledge. 2. Gravitas Tags: Violators get public reputation tags. Large
cooperatives can boycott bad actors. 3. 4-Layer Appeal: From the tagger to a
decentralized court or even a “fork” of the system. Status: Open Source. Seeking
co-founders, developers, and ethical entrepreneurs to build the first
Gravitas-enabled Lemmy instance. — # IdeaPledge: A Manifesto for the Economy of
Ideas An idea isn’t yours until you voice it. ## The Essence IdeaPledge is an
update to the patent system for the 21st century. It’s a decentralized network
of websites (and Fediverse interfaces) where people patent everything: jokes,
music, startup ideas, scientific hypotheses, designs, names. Anything you can
think of. A patent is filed with a simple post. Free. Forever. The current
system rewards speculators, not creators. IdeaPledge fixes this: the value of an
idea is determined by society, and authors and society negotiate to direct money
toward making the world better, not simply into someone’s pocket. — ## How It
Works ### 1. The Price of an Idea — Merit (Me) Each idea receives a price in
units of Me (Merit). This price is set by the community (via voting, markets,
reputation). The price can change, but it’s always transparent. Examples: -
Gravitas Protocol — 50 Me - IdeaPledge (as an idea) — 1 Me - A complex startup
plan — 120 Me ### 2. Progressive Fee on Commercial Use If you use others’ ideas
in a commercial project, the project’s revenue is subject to a fee. The fee rate
depends on the sum of Me values of all ideas used (ΣMe). Thresholds (set by each
community vote): | ΣMe | Fee on Revenue | |-----|-----------------| | < 100 Me |
5% | | 100 – 500 Me | 7.5% | | > 500 Me | 10% | ### 3. Distribution of Collected
Funds The collected amount is divided proportionally among the authors of the
ideas used: Author receives = (Their idea's Me / ΣMe) * Total collected fee ###
4. Where the Money Goes — The Author’s Choice Each author can direct their
share: - To themselves personally. - To charitable foundations from a public
list (PETA, Greta Thunberg’s foundation, local shelters, etc.). - Split between
themselves and foundations in any proportion. This turns the economy into a tool
for bettering the world, not just enrichment. ### 5. Trust and Reputation — Via
Gravitas Everything is built on trust. Cheating is recorded by Gravitas Protocol
[https://gitverse.ru/aac1122/GravitasProtocol] — a system of tags and viral
trust. More on Gravitas below. A violator receives a tag, and entire author
collectives (e.g., a cooperative of 12,345 people) can boycott them, blocking
access to their ideas. You can “pirate,” but then you’ll have to find people
willing to create from scratch for you, rather than drawing from the existing
pool of ideas. — ## Mechanisms of Protection and Flexibility ### IdeaPledge
Covenant This is a new form of “non-disclosure agreement.” You can talk, but if
you implement, you must pay the author (and whoever passed the idea to you). By
signing the covenant, you confirm that you learned the idea, not invented it
yourself. Violation leads to reputational and economic consequences. ### Blocks
and Appeals - An author can always block a violator from accessing their new
materials. - Authors form pools. Violate an agreement with one — lose access to
all. - Every tag includes a link to an appeal. The system is multi-level: 1.
Appeal to the tagger. 2. Community with reputation. 3. Court (decentralized
arbitration). 4. Fork — creating your own version of the system with new rules.
### Examples of Payment Options (Community Creativity) - “Pay me a penny — or
pay a large sum to charity and get access.” - “We’re a cooperative: pay a
charity fund — get monthly access to comments from 12,345 authors; a DAO decides
how to spend it.” - “25% of revenue from this idea can only be spent on
purchases from a vegan syndicate / Africa.” - “A wealthy person pays 10 times
more, a poor person pays nothing but proves they studied.” - “Payment can only
be made in a specific currency.” Society negotiates with authors, and the more
inventive the terms, the greater the benefit to the world. — ## Gravitas
Protocol — The Foundation of Trust Gravitas is a system of tags and viral trust.
- Anyone can tag anything (posts, users, ideas, products). - Tags have
relationships: synonyms, antonyms, inclusions — configurable flexibly. - Trust
spreads “virally”: if I trust Greta Thunberg, and she trusts PETA on vegan
matters, and PETA trusts the passport office for identity verification — then I
trust the passport office for verification. Sybil attack defense: A widely
trusted organization (e.g., a charity) can confirm that an account belongs to a
real person with ID documents. In rare cases of matching IDs, appearance is also
used. Personalization: Each user configures the weight of tags for themselves.
You can copy settings from trusted KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) to avoid getting
into the details. Transparency: Any tag can itself be tagged as “false.” If a
recommendation system lies, an alarm sounds. The user decides whom to trust by
adjusting their own filters. — ## The Economics of IdeaPledge in Detail ### Who
Gets the Profit (Chain of Gratitude) - Idea Author - Implementer (the one who
realized the idea) - The person who found the implementer - The person who found
that person (and so on, like network marketing for ideas) ### Limitation for the
Author (Chernyshov Principle) The personal income of the IdeaPledge author
(Alexey Chernyshov) is limited: - No more than 2× the average salary in the
country of residence (currently Belarus). - Absolute cap: $3,000/month +
inflation + health expenses. - Everything above that goes to charitable
foundations (chosen by the buyer or the author, if the buyer doesn’t choose). On
the Chernyshov Principle This principle is not a dogma, but a guideline. For
myself, I’ve tightened it to 2× the average salary and $3,000. For others, it
can be flexible: 5×, 10×, or absent entirely — the main thing is that it’s
honest and transparent. But there’s a risk: when people start competing in
asceticism, a Tyranny of the Pious can arise. Those who take less might judge
those who take more. That won’t happen in my system. The measure of wealth is a
personal matter, as long as it doesn’t harm others. The main thing is not how
much you take, but where the rest goes. ### Turn-Based Access, Not Advertising
When entering the implementation market, buyers prefer to purchase in turn
order, not from whoever spent the most on ads. If you buy out of turn, you need
to provide a justification (even if just financial, so the system understands
the motivation). — ## Answers to Possible Questions Q: Who is included in the
“society” that sets the price of an idea?
A: Many societies. Different communities (thematic, regional, ethical) run their
own negotiations with authors. Every person has g-tags indicating how
trustworthy they are on matters of authorship. Violators of agreements receive
tags and are boycotted by large collectives. Q: How are funds distributed
legally and for taxes?
A: Rigid smart contracts were planned before, but that’s inflexible. Now:
notifications. “You’ve subscribed to ethics warnings. This purchase is
unethical. Want details or to proceed?” If needed, the buyer also receives a tag
(with appeal rights). Q: Protection against idea theft?
A: Gravitas reputation + IPFS / Wayback Machine to prove authorship. That’s
enough to win most disputes. If someone comes up with a better mechanism — the
IdeaPledge Covenant is in their hands. Q: What if the community decides
unfairly?
A: The author can always block access to their new materials. Anyone can create
the same thing from memory (like Buratino and Pinocchio). To prove they knew
rather than invented — the IdeaPledge Covenant applies. Large author collectives
make boycotts tangible. Q: Appeal mechanisms?
A: Multi-level system: 1) to the tagger, 2) community with reputation, 3) court,
4) fork. Appeal requests are stored decentrally and cannot be hidden. Q: Isn’t
this too complex for ordinary users?
A: That’s what KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) are for. They provide links to their
settings. Copy them and you’re set. Division of labor: creatives invent,
implementers execute, KOLs spread. Q: What if authors massively block access,
creating an idea shortage?
A: Patents don’t forbid thinking. Create the same thing through the power of
more highly moral citizens. Ideas cannot be in short supply as long as people
think. Q: How long does an appeal take?
A: It varies. If someone drags their feet, you can tag them “irrationally
handling appeals.” The market will regulate. Q: Will there be an API/SDK?
A: Of course. Everything is Open Source. — ## What’s Next IdeaPledge and
Gravitas Protocol are not a commercial startup. They are infrastructure for a
new ethical economy. Everything needed to launch is described above. All that’s
left is to start building.
lmemsm
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Paul Rigby
Troll
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