Yes, $15k would not be the same for a biopharma company, but they explicitly do not have the same goals of a biopharma company, nor are they a biopharma company

Yes, $15k would not be the same for a biopharma company, but they explicitly do not have the same goals of a biopharma company, nor are they a biopharma company, nor do their people come biopharma, nor are their users biopharma companies. Biopharma companies do not benefit from this, so why does it even matter what the status quo or state of the art of "doing science" is? It's easy to be a cynic on HN, it's harder to think critically about why someone else would believe that it could work. You don't really get rewarded for empathy on here.