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More ammunition why patents are EVIL
iphigenie:
When it comes to medicine, one has to wonder just how genuine the "we want to help people" thing is. [...] But that's an extension from patents to the market, and how things can go horribly wrong in the process there.
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Capitalism is very successful in making rich people richer, but almost completely blind to the needs of the sick, most especially if they're poor.
-rjbull (July 07, 2011, 03:44 PM)
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Hang on here... Whereas there might be concerns certainly on the health research and treatment front capitalism can be said to have delivered a lot. It seems to me we live a long longer, and healthier, and don't have to put up with a lot of aches and pains that previous generations just had to put up with, and don't die anywhere near except from things that stem from our own lifestyle (eating crap, smoking, not moving) or the really tricky problems. From a patent perspective I think the system did work and deliver a lot until slowly the market evolved.
Now "the system" for applying and delivering these is starting to fail, but that is because we had a situation where all the actors in the chain benefited from costs rising. Drug and product makers? check. Insurance companies? you bet, their profit is typically in % of cost volume. Hospitals and practitioners? Regulators/government departments? yup, them too, size of industry increases their weight, importance and budgets. And, for the longest time, the consumer too - after all you pay enough for the insurance (or taxes, if paid by government) so you are going to make sure you get your money's worth and go for more consumption of services... People have been warning of this since the 70s, and we just carried on...
deleted but left in here to not undo history, but let's not hijack this thread
Renegade:
As for the term "Big Pharma", yeah, I don't much like it either, but it was already brought up. It does sound a tad nutty.-Renegade (July 07, 2011, 04:56 PM)
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*Shrug* If the shoe fits...
-Stoic Joker (July 07, 2011, 07:56 PM)
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It fits all right.
Yeah... I must sound a bit kooky sometimes... But I'm not the only one.-Renegade (July 07, 2011, 04:56 PM)
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George Carlin (and I) agree with you, which is particularly apt today!
__________________
PS: DC's toolbar doesn't recognize YouTube's new link format.
-zridling (July 08, 2011, 12:42 AM)
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I love that guy! He's over the top hysterically funny, and twice as smart.
Stoic Joker:
George Carlin (and I) agree with you, which is particularly apt today!-zridling (July 08, 2011, 12:42 AM)
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Amen to that! I have long maintained that George Carlin was the only true sage of the 20th century. He forced us to look at things (and ourselves) for what they really are...and not what we believed, or wanted them to be.
zridling:
More ammo from James Firth on why software patents have to go:
http://www.slightlyrightofcentre.com/2011/07/when-sum-of-parts-is-way-more-than.html
"Patent holders are in a monopolistic position, and the limits to what they can charge for licensing relatively small components are not governed by normal market forces. It's a pay up or else scenario...."
Kirby Ferguson
Everything Is A Remix: The Invention Edition
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110622/13344514806/everything-is-remix-invention-edition.shtml
"The key point, which critics will undoubtedly skip or gloss over, is that he's not just saying that copying is good. He's saying that copying is one part of the very important process of innovation. Copying is a component, but the important part is then taking that copy and doing more with it."
----> (Yea, Apple, Microsoft, and Linus never copied anything, don't ya know?)
via Mike Masnick:
We Need To Let Go Of The Idea That Our Creations Are Utterly Ours
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110702/01332514942/we-need-to-let-go-idea-that-our-creations-are-utterly-ours.shtml
40hz:
I have long maintained that George Carlin was the only true sage of the 20th century. He forced us to look at things (and ourselves) for what they really are...and not what we believed, or wanted them to be.
-Stoic Joker (July 08, 2011, 06:36 AM)
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I'd add the comedian 'Gallagher' (Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr.) and writers George Ade, James Thurber, and Jean Shepherd to the list of 20th century sages as well. :)
(Note: Members of the Little Orphan Annie Inner Circle can hear some of Shepherd's best over at the Flick Lives! website. No secret decoder required. ;D )
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