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Scientists are scandalously underpaid. IP is a way to compensate them without increasing the official budget. See also: green cards. In general, science has a
by jjoonathan 6y ago
Scientists are scandalously underpaid. IP is a way to compensate them without increasing the official budget. See also: green cards.
In general, science has a massive value capture problem and gets systematically underfunded as a result. If research A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J was required to reach commercializable result K, the usual situation is that money backpropagation stops at J or K depending on how aggressive the IP commodification was. I am far more scandalized by the fact that A-I get left out of the value calculus than by the fact that J can sometimes wedge its foot into the door.
I would strongly prefer a system where we fully compensate scientists in dollars and don't play IP games, but that doesn't seem to be on the table.
- medium_burrito 6y agoScandalously underpaid is putting it lightly. We've basically transitioned to scientists being minimum wage workers, with the main incentive being permanent residency for the legions of foreign phds. Of note, engineering other than software also pays like shit compared to the cost of living. If I had to make a bet, I'd say there will be a lot less innovation and cool new stuff being invented outside of software due to brain drain. If I could be a mechanical engineer and afford a house in a big city, sure, but that's just not doable, whereas I can easily get a job that will cover my rather prodigious mortgage payment.