Many people see it as a fount of endless intellectual property wars between tech firms, or fuel for thuggish, "patent trolls," ready to exploit the system's protections for cash.
They are postcodes synonymous with wealth and aspiration; the kind of districts that attract estate agents, upmarket retail chains and endless TV property shows.
Weed is loved in part due to the adulation it receives not just by the millions of recreational users worldwide, but also from the people whose lives are made easier through the seemingly endless medicinal properties of the many strains now available.
Just as the supply of water is being reduced, so the demand for it is being increased by the apparently endless activity of property developers, driven by a rising population: "Water starvation here is a comparatively new situation, with more and more development in the last 30 years.
If the homeowners refuse and insist on staying put and subjecting themselves to endless cycles of property destruction and restoration, they should do so on their own dime.
They have watched over this historic property, providing endless resources to ensure that it is maintained in its original splendor.
It might look like a leftover set from a post-post-apocalyptic reboot of Kevin Costner's Waterworld, and the estate agent admits it "needs a lot of work", but the possibilities with the property are endless.
Rather, they speed up that evolution -- patents and new ventures encourage variation to justify or avoid that intellectual property, an endless stream of innovation, where the more differentiation, the more customers attracted, the more highly useful products evolved, and the more surplus cash created.
Noah also made a point to call out Trump's endless listing of his properties during the debate, quipping: "Donald Trump relates to America like he's playing a game of Monopoly".
