I think a good metaphor for this problem might be language. How can one guarantee that a language is readable and understandable in the future when their language is slightly or largely different as a result of historical evolution? That is the difficulty, if not impossibility, that I see regarding the task they are trying to solve.

The difficult part in particular is hardware-dependent aspect of data processing, such as reading "floppy disc" or "compact disc" in the future as opposed to processing of data in various software-defined formats. The latter could be dealt with more or less by producing extensive documentation - equivalent of a comprehensive dictionary for a language.

I think this also is a cultural problem. How can a society benefit from all the past works whose copyright protection expire?

National Academy of Science panel issues recommendations on technology policies considering the losing U.S. dominance in sciences.

Quite a few people express their idea of how a large chunk of money could improve the society.. This one is somewhat interesting.

I think this logic is at least partially circular in that we distinguish a new era from the previous one partly based on the chaning companies at the top. If the same company stays dominant, we might just regard that the same era is continuing.

Thoughtful. The distinction between the type of works is useful for policy debate - some works, such as dojin comics, do not cause conflicts with the sales of the originals. This applies to mash-ups in music. However, one (albeit greedy one) may argue that use of the rights in those derivatives are another source of revenue if monetized properly, and hence unauthorized creation and distribution of derivative works is another lost revenue opportunity.

Committee-based finance and production of movies and anime make it difficult, he points out, to take a tolerant attitude towards doujin works. I think what is needed here might be a cultural change more than changes in law or business practices.

His characterization that doujin fills unmet needs /niches sounds right. This means that doujin activities are potentially welfare-increasing. The fact that the doujin treatments of the original charcters and story lines cannot be accomodated into the official lines is quite interesting in this light. Of course, some fan fictions may make it to the original's script. But others are destined to remain unofficial. If there is, for example, a practice of contributing some money marketing-related information to the rigits holders/ creators of the originals, that might make everyone happy, because the rights holders benefit from the type of derivatives that they can never create or market that way.

cool. I hope this will lead to sophistication of read-aloud software.

This is more about the nature of pharmaceutical research than new way of thinking about schizophreny. And it is quite interesting.