And to what extent are those labs doing the same kind of fundamental research that Bell Labs was doing back in the day? Sure, they wanted to produce things tha

And to what extent are those labs doing the same kind of fundamental research that Bell Labs was doing back in the day? Sure, they wanted to produce things that Ma Bell could monetize—but it was abundantly clear that they were not being micromanaged to that effect. Today, at least from the outside, it seems like any industry-funded research is cut off the moment it looks like it's not going to produce a clearly-profitable product or service within the next few years.