[ExI] Against government science funding was Re: New Hope for Alzheimer's Disease Vaccine

[Stefano Vaj]

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 4:46 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ### Do you know that 85% of all science funding in the US comes from
> private money? I used to think that due to the difficulty in owning basic
> research results there would be underproduction of such results in the
> absence of coerced funding but now I no longer believe it. Many rich people
> seek the approval of their peers too, which is why the Gates foundation is
> outspending the NIH on many of the most pressing health needs in the world.
> Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mellon, Hughes and dozens of lesser captains of
> industry gave more to science than most governments.
>

Why, one way to see it, rather than public vs private is non-profit in the
broadest sense vs. for-(immediate, monetary) profit.

The latter qualification is important since it could be argued that even
governmental expect "returns on their investments", so that investment in
military research are normally related to their wishes to protect or to
expand their power, markets, economies, and so forth.

Non-profit, on the other hand, also include efforts which are repayed by
status, reputation and goodwill (see Mr. Gates expenditures) or that take
place on a reciprocity, rather than consideration, basis (see the Open
Source movement).

Stefano Vaj
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