I don't think of myself as a libertarian capitalist, or anything close to that, but I think that being one does not preclude one from playing the long game. One

I don't think of myself as a libertarian capitalist, or anything close to that, but I think that being one does not preclude one from playing the long game. One can certainly decide that they will gain maximum profit by investing heavily in research that doesn't have an immediate practical result now, betting on the idea that over time, that research will see a return. For instance, suppose that the cure for this problem turns out to be an expensive, complex drug. Somebody stands to make a lot of money by figuring out what that drug is and selling it. They can't make that money now, but eventually they'll be able to, so they support the research in order to get there. Now, do I support profit being the driver behind this kind of research? Not at all. Do I think it's the best system for doing this? Hardly. But can it work? It can and sometimes does.