> That hasn't happened since the golden age of Bell Labs and Xerox Parc The libertarian counterpoint would be that the golden age stopped due to regulation and

> That hasn't happened since the golden age of Bell Labs and Xerox Parc The libertarian counterpoint would be that the golden age stopped due to regulation and government involvement in scientific research(grants). > There's a whole scientific 'commons' that are hugely important to society but don't have a capturable value to the private sector. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "commons", but in order to get to a valuable product, much is learned and spread throughout the various scientific research circles. Sometimes research that seems useless ends up having significant impacts. Many things in science are learned through business ventures.