--- Brad Bendily <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > It's a pretty cynical viewpoint that sees funding > for science as only an > > investment with an expected financial return. > > good point. > BUT (and there's always a butt) Some of the first > guys to create open > source software also created a company to support > open source software. > > Sure the software is free, but the expertise needed > to provide support > is not free. Therefore, they make money on the > software. So here we > are back to money making being the driving force > behind most things. > > I agree, there are probably a few pieces of research > out there for > the advancement/development of the sciences, but > most of it is > probably for somebody to make money.
Making money does not necessarily make the effort ignoble. Making money, or profit, is just as necessary as having enough raw materials or CPU time for the success of a project. Of course, the problem comes when people confuse long term and short term benefits of science. Sure, the achievements of SpaceShipOne may not make a lot of money anytime soon, but the longer term benefits may mean that we don't have to wait for the US government to put a station on the moon, or like Will said, mine the asteroid belt. I trust rockets geeks funded by computer geeks more than the US govt. BTW, Columbus had to ask Queen Isabella to hock some jewelry so that he could prove the world was round (to Spain, at least). And the fact that he showed there was profit to be made meant more voyages to the New World were made. But Leif Erickson and maybe even Admiral Zheng, (http://english.people.com.cn/200203/07/eng20020307_91604.shtml), who discovered the New World earlier than Columbus, didn't show a profit, and therefore more voyages to the New World were seen as too great a risk, and therefore no more were made by the Norsemen or Ming dynasty. History could have been _much_ different if they had. So, should we wait until we can travel in space without a profit motive, paid for by surplus tax revenue? I think homo sapiens will be long dead before that could happen. John _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com
