>>>>"Software piracy" does not exist.
>>>>"Software piracy" exists because ......
>>>>
>>>>Ok....which one is it????
>>>
>>>I think getting past the improper definition of "software piracy" is the first step.
>>
>>No, what you're not getting is that the ability to write software is, for Rick, a God given ability. And as such, you have no claim to the end-product and it should be used for all mankind.This can easily be done because once you have written it, and been paid for the work, one can make copies of it without cost to you and those copies can be used to benefit others. Because the software was written essentially using what amounts to God's gift it is only your greed that now claims ownership over it and desires to exploit it for further personal gain. If you believe the premise then the conclusion naturally follows.
>
>Ok I understand the line of thinking - although I obviously don't agree with it - but how exactly does this work? If you're not a criminal software pirate then you're greedy? ..so that can't be right so it must be that software pirates simply don't exist? ..thus is there no such thing as software piracy. Or no wait it does exist because people are greedy? So I was thinking lets take a step back here and make sure we understand what software piracy is cause needless to say none of this makes any sense.

For Rick there is no such thing as software piracy. The premise is that God gave you the ability to write software (or some other skill) and desires that you use that skill to benefit your fellow man. However, you decide to use that skill to only benefit yourself (that's greed, not piracy). You do that by claiming exclusive ownership of the software even though ultimately it was God's gift to you for the benefit of all. In order to enforce that claim of ownership, and indeed to legitimize it, you need to defend it against those that would take a copy without your consent and hence you create the concept of a software pirate.

For Rick, you never owned the software in the fist place - your ability to create it was God given for the benefit of all. And it would not harm you to allow others to make copies since it costs nothing to make the copy. Once again, if you accept the premise then the conclusion naturally follows.