Honestly, are you dense? Copying the number 925 and a number the size of which resides on a DVD are both acts of copying. Both are different in degree though, and that is what matters. Same as something touching your back. Both are acts of force, but different in degree.
I'm referring to your continued insistence that copying == theft.
Tell me, is copying your fellow classmate's test answers appropriate or allowed? Is copying your fellow student's thesis acceptable?
I will admit that copying a number without the permission of the "finder" does "harm" to the extent that they were entitled to profit by controlling the use of the number.
Noted.
However, it does not harm them in the same way that they are harmed if I take their physical property.
Why are you arguing against your own perceived set of counter-arguments against your stance?
Furthermore, I do not agree that by finding the number they are entitled to control its use by others (who use their physical property to do so).
Demonstrate to me that it is statistically likely in the next trillion years or so that the number would've been found otherwise. If you can do that, your case might be stronger. Otherwise, it can mathematically be demonstrated that any other person would never benefit from the number's existence unless the original discoverer found it.
And lastly, as you have pointed out, physical property is not the same as numbers. Given that, you're going to find it tough to demonstrate that the idea of 'copying' a number has any meaning. In mathematics, the set of all numbers means each number is unique and only exists once - rendering the idea of copying nonsensical. Since all numbers are unique and only exist once, it can be demonstrated that your possession of it is in fact stealing, as opposed to copying.
