Bush to veto Stem Cell bill.....Again

I agree that there are areas of applied research, into things like geothermal energy that private companies should fund. I've never suggested letting private companies off the hook, for funding research that can and does lead to consumer products. We're already doing that. That's the way applied research works.

I'm talking about core scientific research. Like the partical accelerator. And there are certainly aspect of vulcanology, where the study of volcanoes does not have any evident profit motive. Those are the kinds of things that should be funded.

And believe me, some, or a lot of it has to come from the federal level. A state legislator in Rhode Island is not going to be able to sell an expensive academic research programs into volcanoes, to his tax-paying constituents. The nearest active volcano to Rhode Island is 3000 miles away.
 
Cypress said:
I agree that there are areas of applied research, into things like geothermal energy that private companies should fund. I've never suggested letting private companies off the hook, for funding research that can and does lead to consumer products. We're already doing that. That's the way applied research works.

I'm talking about core scientific research. Like the partical accelerator. And there are certainly aspect of vulcanology, where the study of volcanoes does not have any evident profit motive. Those are the kinds of things that should be funded.

And believe me, some, or a lot of it has to come from the federal level. A state legislator in Rhode Island is not going to be able to sell an expensive academic research programs into volcanoes, to his tax-paying constituents. The nearest active volcano to Rhode Island is 3000 miles away.
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We agree. Don't you get it?

The idea that Stem Cell research is unappliable as a profitable venture is ridiculous.

I'm not even against funding it, so long as they pay dearly for the patents of the applicable profit ventures and we recoup our costs. I am against corporate welfare, not science research.
 
The biggest jumps in the growth in our country have been largely federally funded and or managed.
TVA
The rural electric act.
Transcontinental railroad.
Interstate highway system
Space program - and the multitude of tech spinoffs.
Most of our medical research.
Hoover dam, which now waters most of NV and southern CA.
Grand Coulee dam
And many more.

I am against corporate welfare as well, but it seems that the mantra of "what is good for corporations" is sort of backwards.

"What is good for America is good for corporations". this seems to have been proven time and again in history.
 
"And you skipped over a whole host of other basic science I mentioned, that will largely go unfunded if we expect Ford, Chysler, and Exxon to somehow pick up the tab."

And YOU skipped over the whole part of.... IF the government STOPS doing the basic research, the corporations WOULD HAVE TO... otherwise their new product lines/technologies would dry up.... just what do you think THAT would do to their shareholders?
 
What would corpies funding the research do to the corpies profit line / shareholders ? Probable outcome would be that the research would move offshore, where it would be cheaper.
 
Superfreak said:
"And you skipped over a whole host of other basic science I mentioned, that will largely go unfunded if we expect Ford, Chysler, and Exxon to somehow pick up the tab."

And YOU skipped over the whole part of.... IF the government STOPS doing the basic research, the corporations WOULD HAVE TO... otherwise their new product lines/technologies would dry up.... just what do you think THAT would do to their shareholders?
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And YOU skipped over the whole part of.... IF the government STOPS doing the basic research, the corporations WOULD HAVE TO

1) That's a total guess on your part. I asked you previously to show me one developed country on the planet, that relies completly on private industry to fund core, basic sceintific research. I've yet to hear you provide one. So, you have no idea, really, if what your saying would actually happen.

2) Corporations have a responsibility to their shareholders. Staples, Home Depot, and Starbucks are not going to fund core academic research into volcanoes or earthquakes. Or primate research in Africa. Their shareholders would laugh them out of the board room.

3) Privately funded research is subject to propeitary laws. Research funded by corporations becomes proprietary. Research they pay for, is viewed as an economic advantage over competitors. It's generally not shared with competitors. This is basic economics. Science cannot function without dispersion of knowledge, through public ways: peer reviewed magazines, public conferences, public science roundtable. The last 400 years of scientific advancement, depends on publically sharing, and peer reviewing research. Research that's available for anyone to look at and review.
 
Cypress....

1) To a degree, yes, but it is a LOGICAL conclusion. If the basic research was not done by the government, then the corps and other private money would have to fund the basic research or nothing would get done. The idea that the government HAS to be involved just "because everyone is doing it" is flawed as well for the same reason... YOU also do not know what would happen.

2) That said, I said long ago that IF the government is going to fund basic research, THEN they should recoup their costs via licensing agreements.

3) You are correct. They do have a responsibility to their shareholders. Just how happy do you think those shareholders would be if the corps said... well we didn't feel like funding basic research and therefore our future product pipe-line is dead...
 
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