[quote=CA renter] …Too many people are ignorant about the facts, and they will insist that private corporations are what drive scientific research and create innovative technologies. What so many don’t know is that the majority of basic research is funded by the government. There would be very little innovation if the government wasn’t there to support the often unprofitable basic research that is required to jump-start the more marketable and profitable R&D…..
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You’ve got them dead to rights on this, CAR. The vast majority of basic science research is being funded by the government, while the private sector sits back and cherry picks the technologies that guarantee profits with no risk. Given the complexity of much of the scientific research these days, caution is understandable. There aren’t too many entities out there that can afford to sink stockholder profits into what can, and does, often turn out to be empty bottomless pits. But science will not advance if no risk is assumed, and it appears that the government alone is willing to take on that risk.
That being said, these same private sector entities need to knock off the John Galt fantasy role-playing and stop laying claim to intellectual property they had no part in producing. And that includes their raping of the public by holding the fruits of taxpayer-funded research for ransom, a tactic in which K-V Pharmaceuticals appears to be engaged.
And while we’re on the topic of government-funded basic research….I really wish politicians and talking heads would STFU when it comes to sounding off on science about which they are totally clueless. The image of Sarah Palin snorting derisively while brimming with outrage over …FRUIT FLY RESEARCH!!!….continues to haunt my nightly periods of N1 sleep. Unfortunately she is not alone in believing herself equipped to make such blanket statements. There’s nothing wrong with a little watchdog activity in an attempt to save taxpayer money. But these boneheaded morons have succeeding in making their mindless followers suspicious of anything relating to science, or academic/intellectual pursuits.
