Comments on: Corporate Funded Research.

By: realityonastick

realityonastick — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 13:54:00 +0000

Michael: Excellent observations. Medical and technological research tend to advance at a faster rate than the laws that govern them. We need to be working from principles and not only precedence. Whether every borderline case must be decided in advance is questionable, but it would be nice to have some guidelines sketched in broad strokes. There’s a difference between being a fraud without hurting anyone–perhaps to gain noteriety (e.g. Milli Vanilli)–and writing bogus research to cloud the potential hazards of smoking cigarettes.
Also agree about how inappropriate terms like ‘buying’ and ‘being sold on’ ideas can be.
Rob: Yeah, they used to call me ‘utopia boy’ so no surprises about me pitching unrealistic social doctrine. I have to say that I still think Plato’s Republic got a lot of it right. Put the important decisions in the hands of Philosopher-Kings and stop expecting the laymen to be rational.

By: rob

rob — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 01:50:54 +0000

it’s interesting alright, but i think you’re operating on an assumption

“And yet, isn’t it time we demanded that all members of society recognize the ripple effects of their actions?”

you’re assuming that all people are ready or able to do this, which, let’s be honest, they’re not. if we look at the majority of western society, we’re all too hungry chasing after the next brass ring, the next promotion, the new beemer.
also, you’re assuming that people would actually want to do this. who would want to examine the ripple effects of their actions when a lot of people don’t even “know” themselves.

By: Michael Stout

Michael Stout — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 20:32:41 +0000

Thanks for this Steve.

Let’s add a word to your friend’s question,
“Is it up to everyone to figure out TOGETHER?”

One phrase from The Situationist article truck me. It’s a phrase I’ve heard before and I hate - “The marketplace for ideas.” It’s used by people who think that ideas are only good if many people “buy” them and I for one don’t buy that.