For writing, think about fonts.
We do not care what font is used at display time to display an article, we are free to use any font we choose to use.
We do not care what font is used at display time to display an article, we are free to use any font we choose to use.
Oh I absolutely care. There are classical pieces that sound divine when played with a harpsichord, but sound terribly inappropriate when played with a piano.
To get a free open source Mona Lisa we would need to discover what brushes and paints were used, how, and in what sequence, to produce that painting.
We would then be free to see what the Mona Lisa would have looked like if it were performed using different brushes, different paints, different sequences.
We would then be free to see what the Mona Lisa would have looked like if it were performed using different brushes, different paints, different sequences.
You assume that every creation process is quantizable into things like strokes, movements, pressure points, whatever... this sure is true for code or text.
But much like some music instruments can't be controlled and reproduced by MIDI, many artforms have myriads of such miniscule subprocesses (the artist is often not even aware of) that you would need hypothetical scifi devices to be able to "catch" what happens during the creation process. (Earlier I heard you mention star trek replicators replicating a violin. I don't think wishful thinking about future developments will help us make good decisions about devcoins present.)