What an incredible shallow reading of "capitalism".
replyCapitalism doesn't "assign value" to anything. It can't assign value to anything.
The value of something is determined only by a transaction. It's not assigned.
The value of something is made apparent only after an exchanged is made. Otherwise there is no "inherent" or "assigned" value to anything. The value is made explicit only after a transaction is made.
Abstract ideas don't really have value. Silicon Valley/Tech, which is perhaps the most ardent and exemplary capitalist industries today, does not assign value to abstract ideas. It assigns value to execution/tangible action.
Their point is that market forces push the value down to the marginal cost of copying.
replyThis complaint about "determining" versus "assigning" value is not important. And copyright does follow execution, not the abstract idea.