5 ms·

I think you might be going a little far and taking this a little far... considering the black plague killed between 75 - 200 million people e.g. 30-60% of the p

• jivatmanx 14y ago
  True, but it also brought about demographic changes that finally destroyed feudalism in Western Europe.
• nova 14y ago
  I wonder how many people have died because of inefficiencies caused by the patent system, or just the whole healthcare thing. I don't know if the medical patent landscape is a wasteland like the software one, but probably it's not the best we could do. Just a thought: abolish the patent system. Pay the pharmaceutical research companies directly, by the State, like we do with military research or civil works. I prefer free markets but anything touched by patents is not a free market either. The cost could be shared by the rich countries. Research is expensive but is a fixed cost. Manufacturing could be done by the free market, because all drugs would be generic. Rare diseases could be researched instead of just profitable ones. We would avoid all the "convincing" doctors to buy expensive patented drugs. Some companies would be specialized in research, others in manufacturing. Developing countries wouldn't have to be worried about patent fees they can't afford. IP lawyers would lose, I guess.
• mattstreet 14y ago
  The important difference is that patient trolls have some degree of sentience.