🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov15.085235.628@utstat.uucp> philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) writes:
 ...
>Knowledge should be as  transferable as possible throughout society. Of
>course this presumes that one has the knowledge. I simply do not feel that
>commercial operations, especially those adapting knowledge derived by
>noncommercial researchers, should make any profit at all selling to 
>universities. I knew a great guitar teacher. He produced a wonderful
>concert class guitarist. One day the guitarist returned to give a major
>concert in the teacher's home town. The teacher could not afford a decent
>ticket. I have no use for the marketing sharks which permeate society
>selling variations on themes they learnt from those they now attempt to
>make money off of.

Whats this "noncommercial researchers" stuff?  Universities retain rights
of the work of their employees just as commercial companies do.  Universities
keep the profits from the patents they license, just as commercial companies
do.  Unlike commercial companies, universities are outright given money to
do this in the form of grants (ie its funded involuntarily by those of us
who pay taxes), and they dont even have to pay a living wage to those doing
the real work (ie graduate students.)  And teaching?  Its often viewed as
a necessary evil.

>I wonder what type of society would produce such leaches on those who are
>searching for the truth. You'd probably support a dealer selling a priest
>a ND system in order to produce a newsletter.

The reality of academia is neither pure nor virtuous.  Perhaps the example
given should have been based on a television evangelist instead of a priest.

>Philip McDunnough
>philip@utstat.toronto.edu

-Steve
-- 
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Stephen E. Halpin                    halpin@vsg1.dsg.dec.com

"You might just have to waste your life just to live."  - Soul Asylum