I never mentioned "socialize healthcare" or "patent monopolies." I just pointed out that if you remove monetary rewards (which patents and copyrights are designed to protect), then a lot of motivation to innovate is lost. I also limited my comments to "a company" and excluded "individuals" who often have altruistic motives outside of money.
I guess I just really doubt that a scenario where the "the company profits without any need for 'ownership' of the idea" would work in real life as you suggest. --Dan On Thu, 2 Oct 2003 20:07:58 +0000 (UTC), "Jason Holt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > > On Thu, 2 Oct 2003, Dan Reese wrote: > > Again, the company wouldn't have any motivation because no one will pay > > $10B to the company if I have the same cure "on sale" for $1B two weeks > > later. > > It's interesting that you blasted socialized health care in your earlier > message as having no motivation to perform since it's a monopoly. But > now you > claim that a company has no motivation *without* patent monopolies. > > There are several scenarios in which my solution works; I'll leave you to > work > the others out, since they're simple applications of free market > economics. > > The cancer patients and insurance companies gather together their B > dollar > bounty. They contact well regarded pharm company and offer them $B if > they > can produce a working cancer cure within a certain amount of time. P > consults > its accountants and engineers, who claim a C% chance of finding a claim > within > the alotted time, at a cost of R dollars. If R/C < B, they accept the > challenge. In fact, if they can work out a function f(R)=C, they can > even > maximize their expected profit. > > Note that the company profits without any need for "ownership" of the > idea. > The patients and insurance companies have already determined that their > investment is worth it, and so wealth is created for them as well. The > fact > that everyone else in the world also benefits is frosting on top. Third > world > countries, future cancer patients and all the rest can be grateful for > the > pharm company and investors, and motivated to likewise put up cash when > they're able. > > -J > > > ____________________ > BYU Unix Users Group > http://uug.byu.edu/ > ___________________________________________________________________ > List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
