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Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

nytimes.com

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Re: Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

#41

Post by hdevalence »

pravda wrote: post #36
jdonaldson wrote: post #3

Universities also privatize science through patents and IP. Research publications privatize research by bundling and charging exorbitant fees for journals and proceedings. Our generation doesn't have a NASA or Bell Labs. The closest thing to those outfits are vanity projects from billionaires... SpaceX, etc.

>Our generation doesn't have a NASA or Bell Labs. Bell Labs was a private corporation.

... owned by a heavily-regulated monopoly, which was banned from commercializing the research produced at Bell Labs.

Re: Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

#42

Post by HarryHirsch »

WalterBright wrote: post #31
kiba wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are engineering projects, rather than something that discovers something new, per se. Even so, extending our capability to explore space allow us to do more scientific research, rather than less of it. With the advent of electric vechicle, the money that went to buying gas and doing maintenance can be better spent on something else.

Lots of research projects in the past were underwritten by rich people for the lulz, or by newspapers in exchange for exclusive stories to sell. I've often wondered why big corporations, as marketing, don't finance something like launching another Hubble space telescope. The corporate logo would go on the side, the corporation could host a conference to collect and analyze the results, it would be fantastic PR (inste…

I've often wondered why big corporations, as marketing, don't finance something like launching another Hubble space telescope.

It's because flagship spacecraft and things like the LHC are projects that require a budget of several billions and a 25-year commitment. This kind of budget is within reach only of a wealthy nation with stable finances and a stable political system.

I think the budget explanation also explains the pharmco crisis. It takes about a billion and a decade to bring a drug to market, and that's why you see statins, antidepressants and antidiabetics in the pipeline. Meanwhile, antibiotic resistances are going to be a public health crisis, and Chagas disease, sleeping sickness and malaria are major killers in the developing world. A new model is needed here; we don't need to try coroprate sponsorship in space when it's already failing on Earth.

Re: Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

#43

Post by foobarian »

pravda wrote: post #36
jdonaldson wrote: post #3

Universities also privatize science through patents and IP. Research publications privatize research by bundling and charging exorbitant fees for journals and proceedings. Our generation doesn't have a NASA or Bell Labs. The closest thing to those outfits are vanity projects from billionaires... SpaceX, etc.

>Our generation doesn't have a NASA or Bell Labs. Bell Labs was a private corporation.

Maybe on paper, but in reality the old Bell system was a monopoly, profited more than a non-monopoly would, and on top of that got vast subsidies from the government. I wouldn't be surprised if the money spent for Apolo project was in the same ballpark as the Ma Bell subsidies.

Re: Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

#44

Post by jrs99 »

michael_nielsen wrote: post #33
jrs99 wrote: post #15

I don't know why you would employ a science adviser who thinks that physics isn't "sexy." It's damn sexy. And anyone who really understands even a small amount of physics will think that physics is "sexy."

Bill Press (the quoted adviser) is an outstanding physicist -- I believe he was the youngest physicist ever tenured at Harvard. I think the quote was out of context. He wasn't saying he doesn't like physics, he was saying it can be hard to sell as a political priority. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Press

That makes a lot of sense. I read that article too quickly and the quote sounded weird when I read it. But it would make perfect sense if he were talking about what he thinks other people think of physics.

Re: Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

#45

Post by Fomite »

From the article: “They target polio and go after it until it’s done — no one else can do that,” he said, referring to the global drive to eradicate the disease. “In effect, they have the power to lead where the market and the political will are insufficient.”

This is actively not true. The eradication of small pox was an international, government-led effort. That we have since abdicated that ability doesn't mean we "can't", just that we have chosen not to.

Re: Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

#47

Post by WalterBright »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #42
WalterBright wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of research projects in the past were underwritten by rich people for the lulz, or by newspapers in exchange for exclusive stories to sell. I've often wondered why big corporations, as marketing, don't finance something like launching another Hubble space telescope. The corporate logo would go on the side, the corporation could host a conference to collect and analyze the results, it would be fantastic PR (inste…

I've often wondered why big corporations, as marketing, don't finance something like launching another Hubble space telescope. It's because flagship spacecraft and things like the LHC are projects that require a budget of several billions and a 25-year commitment. This kind of budget is within reach only of a wealthy nation with stable finances and a stable political system. I think the budget explanation also explai…

> This kind of budget is within reach only of a wealthy nation with stable finances and a stable political system.

The LHC, yes, various probes, no. I read that the beachball Mars lander was $250m. Another Hubble could be built for far less than the original, because it is a known design.

These are well within the abilities of many billionaires and their corporations.

Re: Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

#49

Post by HarryHirsch »

WalterBright wrote: post #47
HarryHirsch wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered why big corporations, as marketing, don't finance something like launching another Hubble space telescope. It's because flagship spacecraft and things like the LHC are projects that require a budget of several billions and a 25-year commitment. This kind of budget is within reach only of a wealthy nation with stable finances and a stable political system. I think the budget explanation also explai…

> This kind of budget is within reach only of a wealthy nation with stable finances and a stable political system. The LHC, yes, various probes, no. I read that the beachball Mars lander was $250m. Another Hubble could be built for far less than the original, because it is a known design. These are well within the abilities of many billionaires and their corporations.

The beachball lander? That must be Mars Pathfinder. Pathfinder was just a technology demonstrator for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and the science return was rather thin - about a dozen spectrographic analyses of rocks, half a year's worth of weather data, and a few hundred pretty pictures.

The real mission was Spirit and Opportunity, and those two are a giant success. With USD 900 million the price tag is four times higher, and this is getting out of reach of even the ultrawealthy.

Re: Billionaires With Big Ideas Are Privatizing American Science

#50

Post by psychometry »

imron wrote: post #34
runewell wrote: post #25

Paywall news article complaining about privatization of information, enough said.

It's not a paywalled article. Turn cookies on and click the link again. If you have cookies off when you click the link it redirects to the login page.

You can't read it if you've already read 20 articles in the past month, either, thanks to evercookie.
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