Emily sent me an article on GM crops which at first plunged me into confusion. I find the whole GM thing very complicated and hard to think about. Then it struck me that the whole situation would be simplified and improved if the idea of patents were abolished.

One of the dangers of GM is that the GM companies own the patents surrounding the technology, and can lock farmers into a monopoly arrangement. This is analogous to the software world where 'proprietary lock-in' means the customer is forced to deal with only one vendor. I think it's clear that software patents should be abolished, but maybe all patents should be abolished!