What We Need More of Is Science

by Will Wilkinson on December 8, 2008

I’m all in favor of this.

Increasing prosperity and longevity are mainly driven by scientific advance. Productivity enhancements within science increase the pace of discovery, which increases productivity enhancement generally, which increases the pace of productivity enhancement within science, which increases the pace of discovery, etc. The way scientific discovery, given the right kind of institutional-economic environment, be self-accelerating is, I think, underappreciated. And I suspect losses in prosperity and longevity from over-zealous IP protection may be underestimated.

[HT: Fat Knowledge]

unacoder

*within my own company,* there is an increasing realization that 'securing' data can limit its usefulness and thus stifle discovery. until recently, all verified data was automatically locked down such that only few scientists had access, introducing bureaucracy around the granting of viewing rights. turns out that by freeing access to the data for pretty much anyone, the rate of discovery is hastened.

Michael

Good article on the case against patents http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellect...

GilM

Sounds good.

Is this getting funded privately, or are they seeking government money?

I wouldn't like the spending, but I'd be even more concerned about inviting government meddling .

Jeffrey

I'm not sure how far this could actually be taken. There is a whole lot to unpack in what constitutes "the right kind of institutional-economic environment." Whether or not IP protection is overzealous, don't the natural incentives for research in the for-profit marketplace lean towards secrecy? If everyone else has the same information you do, the chances that their products will be just as good as yours increase, which makes it more likely you'll have to cut prices and thus make less of a profit. That's why all those isolated silos of research the video mentions came to be in the first place. The market, after all, does not care about longevity or prosperity.

Tim

Ahhh Larry Lessig, what a man. Creative Commons is wonderful. Overzealous IP protection could very well be an enormous problem. If IP is done correctly, nothing necessary is hidden. Overzealous is t he correct term.