[ExI] Publicly funded research/was Re: DARPA seeking Genesis-style godware capability

[Stefano Vaj]

On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Dan<dan_ust at yahoo.com> wrote:
> You're forgetting Celera's entrance into sequencing the human genome
field.

Yes, "entrance" being the operational word.

> I don't think the pattern of private voluntary investment in this area
will exactly replicate the pattern of coerced investment.  Do you?

"Coerced investment" sounds like an oxymoron, but if you mean private vs
public, sure, this is exactly my point. As it is very well illustrated,
e.g., in La recherche et la technologie, enjeux de
puissance<http://www.amazon.fr/recherche-technologie-enjeux-puissance/dp/2717845933/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245942238&sr=8-1>
by
Valérie Mérindol, David-W Versailles, and Patrice Cardot, breakthroughs are
very rarely produced by the "market", and even there some "distortion", such
as the existence of a public, e.g., military, demand is often in place.

> Yes, it does cool stuff, but this is not free -- someone's paying for it.


Who said otherwise? As long as any tax money exists, and irrespective of
personal wishes to see things as governments, taxes and public agencies
entirely abolished, one rejoice and  recognise there are a lot of more
stupid ways to spend it. Subsidising failing, old-tech, industrial sectors,
for instance. Even, say, a Chinese transhumanist should be happy that
indirect pressure is put by its very existence on his or her government to
do just the same.

-- 
Stefano Vaj
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20090625/8dbf057d/attachment.html>