This started off as an interesting chapter, but got dull as it went on. The problem with Alexandria was that most of what it contained were the only copies. When it burned, much of our knowledge was lost. Imagine if a giant EMP hit the earth and wiped out all our digital knowledge. The writer must not be familiar with history, as Socrates thought that the written word was going to be the end of humanity. He never wrote anything, so his works were not in Alexandria, as there were none. Socrates is a great example of how every generation thinks that new inventions are going to lead to the end of the world. People have been like that for thousands of years, and are always wrong it seems.
Back on topic. I love how most journal articles are on-line now. It makes research much easier, as I press ctrl F and can find what I want without having to read the whole thing. However, this new collaboration of knowledge leads to the free rider problem. This is where the majority will wait for a few to do all the work, but the few eventually saw “why am I doing this for their benefit?” and this leads to little or no progress in aggregate.
We are also going back to knowledge being proprietary. This is due to companies lobbying for favourable intellectual property laws that discourage innovation. Due to this, we may not see as many breakthroughs and consumers suffer. See the RIM/Blackberry patent dispute for more info of how out of hand this will get in the future. What happened was someone filed a patent for a blackberry like product in the late eighties before the technology for the product existed. A trial lawyer bought the patent and sued RIM for infringement. These kinds of suits and patents should be illegal. RIM was forced to pay a $100 million settlement. If there is no reform soon, it could hurt the US competitively.
A great example of collaboration is the internet. One of the early forms of the internet was for two universities to share research over phone lines.
Science today is developing too fast for its own good. I think they need to hold up some advancements in the peer review stage. Most med students knowledge is out of date by the time they graduate.
I have a problem with companies being able to patent human genes. As a libertarian, I find it scary. How long until companies paten human characteristics? Want a baby with brown eyes? Sorry, you have to buy the deluxe package for that.
Another thing holding up progress, but in a bad way is the FDA. The process for approval is so burdensome many foreign companies do not bother trying for approval in the US. The just go to Europe or Canada, were the standard is more realistic, and sell there. I think this is partly due to the legal system, as any yahoo can claim a drug hurt them, sue the company and the FDA for approving it and get some ridiculous sum of money.
3 comments:
Just a thought, do you think that free rider problem diminishes as you move up the intellectual ranks? Ex: people go to a public park and litter because someone else will clean it up. But, it seems like Ph D's writing journal articles are less likely to be free riders considering the work they've had to put into becoming a PhD.
And about patenting human genes... I find it scary too. But, I plan to marry a robot. One that cooks, cleans, irons, and doesn't snore.
I think the FDA regulations are not necessarily a bad thing. Look at all of the NSAID drugs that have been pulled from the market and Phen-Phen, too. These drugs were tested, but not for all possible uses and the problems they caused were assumed to already exist in patients when in fact the drugs caused or exacerbated them. I personally do not think it is wise to buy foreign drugs that have not been approved by the FDA because you never know how or why they made it through the foreign system. The FDA protects us; if they lower their restrictions, more unsafe drugs get released and, extra lawsuits notwithstanding, people DIE.
I love the online articles also. I'm a big user of Ctrl F to scan pages of information. These technology advances have helped me to reach more research information in less time.
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