>> But really, the reason that companies don't invest in pure science is not that the value is too far in the future but that the value is too diffuse to captur

>> But really, the reason that companies don't invest in pure science is not that the value is too far in the future but that the value is too diffuse to capture. I think so. A lot of the research at Xerox PARC and Bell Labs failed to generate much profit for their parent companies, although it was of great benefit to society, so why should companies continue to operate that way? It's a market failure. The federal government probably needs to pick up the slack and fund more basic research.