> then putting years of effort into painting it.

Which efforts do we decide deserve compensation? We collectively create so many useful things. People come up with new words to describe a concept and when it's apt, it's widely adopted. That brilliant idea is the culmination of all the other work they've been putting in. But others get to use the word and benefit from it. Indigenous farmers put hundreds of years of effort into domesticating crops like tomatoes and corn and peppers. But those are just taken and spread. We have millions of teachers going above and beyond expectations. We have mothers and caregivers. We have comedians crafting jokes for comedy and they have no ability to protect those jokes. We have brilliant chefs creating recipes after years of work, experience, and effort and they too don't have protections.

> To claim they are indicates some kind of deep disrespect for your fellow human beings.

Nah. My comment comes from a deep respect for fellow humans. And a respect for all the efforts collectively made by a society for its common good.

I’m not talking about compensation. I’m talking about a reason to live at all.

> We have millions of teachers going above and beyond expectations. We have mothers and caregivers. We have comedians crafting jokes for comedy and they have no ability to protect those jokes. We have brilliant chefs creating recipes after years of work, experience, and effort and they too don't have protections.

I agree with this, but why is your proposed solution to remove protections from everyone instead of giving everyone else protections? People who put in work should be rewarded.