Thus said Justin Findlay on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:55:49 MDT: > Somehow I doubt private corporations would have been altruistic enough > to let the thing become what it has without their trying to justify it > quarter by quarter by crafting up ways to draw money out of it for > their shareholders.
But your standards then, Microsoft must be the most altruistic company out there. Just look at what they did for computing by bringing computing to the masses. But hey, heaven forbid that they might have figured out a way to connect these computers, as they would never have allowed people to know about it, much less benefit from it. > The intarwebs might have had a chance at that. Do you really think > there are corporations out there that are visionary enough to pour the > billions and billions of dollars each year into basic scientific > research that doesn't have potential to turn a technological profit > for decades, perhaps even centuries, to say nothing of financial? In today's current political and economic environment of course not. Why would they pay for something that they get for free at the cost of the taxpayers? The government will do it and the government, as we know, has an endless supply of money. At least as long as they are able to collect taxes. > Is it immoral for someone pursue a course of work for which there is > no financial motivation whatsoever? I submit that not only is it moral > but it is crucial to the progress of society. Of course it is not immoral to pursue whatever course of action one wants as long as that course of action is done so through voluntary interaction to achieve the ends. Is it immoral to take money from one person and give it to another so he can pursue his life dream at the expense of another? Absolutely! Does an individual have the right to take something from his neighbor and give it to another who has grandiose ideas? If an individual has no such right, how can he delegate to government that which he does not have? And if an individual cannot delegate rights that he doesn't have, how can a group of individuals delegate this non-existent right to another group of people (the government)? Andy -- [-----------[system uptime]--------------------------------------------] 10:41pm up 39 min, 1 user, load average: 1.17, 1.11, 1.02 /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
