If the expected cost of developing a product is more than the expected profit, capitalists won't invest in the product even if demand exists. Capitalists are t

If the expected cost of developing a product is more than the expected profit, capitalists won't invest in the product even if demand exists. Capitalists are terrible at investing in basic R&D: long-term returns, hazy benefits, hazy costs. Only the fattest and most outrageously profitable corporations have an appetite for it, and it's always the first place to see cuts in a downturn. Occasionally an artist, a lunatic, an ideologue, or a combination of the above will look beyond the framework of profit and find some other reason for making an economically suboptimal decision. If they succeed, the state of the art is advanced, paving the way for capitalists to crawl out of their previous local maxima and start making copies and minor iterations.