I've been attending a philosophy discussion group at my nearby library for the past several weeks. (our online discussion site) We meet every Thursday evening: people suggest questions for discussion, we vote for the question we prefer and then we talk for 90 minutes. The whole idea is modeled on Christopher Phillips idea of a Socrate's Cafe. See the Society for Philosophical Inquiry for more information.
Last Thursday was the first time we discussed one my questions: Who owns an idea? The discussion was very interesting, especially since it went off in a number of directions I hadn't suspected, which was a pleasant surprise. I expected there to be more talk about ownership and intellectual property but the group seemed to accept that ideas are not "owned" and instead wanted to talk about where ideas come from. Everyone seemed to divide into realist and idealist camps, whether ideas are invented/created by people or found/discovered. To me the issue was already settled for the realists but others disagreed so that's where the discussion took us.
11:41:48 PM 
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