[ExI] Private and government R&D

[Dan]

--- On Tue, 6/30/09, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com> wrote:
> It's true that there are some notable examples of privately
> sponsored
> pure research, especially in the US, but in many cases this
> is a
> feel-good measure, like giving to charity, rather than an
> attempt to
> gain a return on investment. That's OK, but the world's
> scientific
> output would greatly diminish if it's all we had to rely
> on.

If your taxes were a lot lower -- let's say the governments of the world stop funding all R&D and lower the taxes of everyone in proportion to that -- would you not donate any of it to R&D?  I know I would.  Would it be impossible for a bunch of likeminded people, in such dire circumstances, to pool their money and resources together to fund R&D?  I know I would pool mine with others -- as I already do for some projects and research.  (Granted, I'm not the Ford Foundation or Rand Corporation, but, then again, about 40% of my income goes to the government.)

Regards,

Dan

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