| Index | Recent Threads | Unanswered Threads | Who's Active | Guidelines | Search |
 |
World Community Grid Forums
Category: Completed Research
Forum: Human Proteome Folding
Thread: So, Who Does This Project Really Serve? |
| No member browsing this thread |
|
Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 5
|
|
| Author |
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
The purpose of this project/alliance is to make it possible for scientists to conduct pure scientific research by enabling them to obtain "unrestricted" capital in the form of donated computer processing time. As a result, scientists are not forced to sign restrictive contracts with governmental agencies or private drug companies for the funds they would otherwise need to conduct this research. As a not-for-profit undertaking, these results MUST be released into the public domain.
And done!!! This is where our part of the story ends. But invariably the question is repeatedly asked, "But the results will have to be used by the pharmaceutical companies to make new medicines. And isn't the pharmaceutical industry currently making exorbitant profits due to their almost monopolistic market position and excessive political influence obtained through massive lobbying efforts and donations to political causes?" Unfortunately the question is entirely out of context and therefore makes absolutely no sense. The "pharmaceutical issue" has nothing what-so-ever to do with our part in this process. It is an entirely useless and negative distraction to our task at hand. We are not here to debate the international pricing structure, or the business model of the pharmaceutical industry. This project has nothing to do with the pharmaceutical industry. Period. Our part in this very complex process is simple. Our contributions ensure that this vital scientific research be immediately conducted free of political and corporate manipulations. It is precisely our collective efforts that make PURE scientific progress possible and the research results equally available to everyone who wishes to use it. To take the shackles off of science and give it the tools and energy it requires to do the most good for the most people in the shortest possible time is a monumental acheivement. To be of service to science and humanity is a wonderful thing. Let us all just celebrate the sunrise of our efforts together.  |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
julied THANK YOU !!!
----------------------------------------[Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Apr 25, 2005 5:05:00 PM] |
||
|
|
barney15c
Advanced Cruncher Joined: Feb 17, 2005 Post Count: 103 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
|
The purpose of this project/alliance is to make it possible for scientists to conduct pure scientific research by enabling them to obtain "unrestricted" capital in the form of donated computer processing time. As a result, scientists are not forced to sign restrictive contracts with governmental agencies or private drug companies for the funds they would otherwise need to conduct this research. As a not-for-profit undertaking, these results MUST be released into the public domain. And done!!! This is where our part of the story ends. But invariably the question is repeatedly asked, "But the results will have to be used by the pharmaceutical companies to make new medicines. And isn't the pharmaceutical industry currently making exorbitant profits due to their almost monopolistic market position and excessive political influence obtained through massive lobbying efforts and donations to political causes?" Unfortunately the question is entirely out of context and therefore makes absolutely no sense. The "pharmaceutical issue" has nothing what-so-ever to do with our part in this process. It is an entirely useless and negative distraction to our task at hand. We are not here to debate the international pricing structure, or the business model of the pharmaceutical industry. This project has nothing to do with the pharmaceutical industry. Period. Our part in this very complex process is simple. Our contributions ensure that this vital scientific research be immediately conducted free of political and corporate manipulations. It is precisely our collective efforts that make PURE scientific progress possible and the research results equally available to everyone who wishes to use it. To take the shackles off of science and give it the tools and energy it requires to do the most good for the most people in the shortest possible time is a monumental acheivement. To be of service to science and humanity is a wonderful thing. Let us all just celebrate the sunrise of our efforts together. I agree to a point in what Julied has stated above - I am bound to get flamed here but .... call me a cynic but I can't help thinking that due to the results produced from this project, that some drug company somehow (and there are drug companies that are not as ethical as others) will vastly profit financially from the vast amount of effort/data produced by people like you and me, despite the non profit assurances given I dont think that WGC can ever give a cast iron guarantee that it would never happen. I would like to see if any other people share the same thoughts.  I will continue to crunch WU's as i still believe that doing something to benefit mankind is better than nothing at all i just object to the potential that a company decides to make a fast buck on the back of peoples highly commendible motivations, efforts and exploiting the highy innovational method we have of doing this.     [Edit 6 times, last edit by barney15c at Apr 26, 2005 4:00:56 AM] |
|||
|
||||
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
That does not show cynicism, that shows a lack of understanding of how the world really operates. Vast profit is made from anything that people want (cure or whatever) until competition forces suppliers to cut prices. Restricting competition is normally done through laws or regulations, though in poorly organized communities it can be done with firebombs, kidnappings, etc.
----------------------------------------One of the arguments for liberal education is that colleges can force people to learn subjects like economics that they are uninterested in. Without a general education in the basics, people are vulnerable to all sorts of misinformation. Back at the beginning of the twentieth century, Ida Tarbell (daughter of an early oil refiner who went bust) started a legend that monopolies were founded by selling products at low prices - driving their competitors out of business. During my lifetime I have seen one big anti-trust action after another brought by the Department of Justice to try to raise prices. I still have not got over the late 1980s when the DOJ forced the Japanese chip manufacturers to form a cartel to raise the prices they charged for memory DRAMs sold in the United States because they were not charging us enough. Low prices being an 'anti-competitive practice'.  Added: Hmm.., on second thought, I should have put a warning sticker [Rant Mode On] at the start of my post. Maybe I should add that the CD companies arguing against digital copying sometimes pay their recording artists peanuts, claiming that advertising costs ate up most of the proceeds from the CD sales. But they tell the musicians to go on tour, so the artists can make their profit from ticket sales, now that the CD company has advertised them. But I am very happy about a recent French judicial decision that says that people should be able to copy from a DVD that they bought for their own private use. Fair Use is being eliminated by the RIAA and needs to be protected by decisions like this one. [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Apr 26, 2005 5:22:48 AM] |
||
|
|
Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I agree to a point in what Julied has stated above - I am bound to get flamed here but .... call me a cynic but I can't help thinking that due to the results produced from this project, that some drug company somehow (and there are drug companies that are not as ethical as others) will vastly profit financially from the vast amount of effort/data produced by people like you and me, despite the non profit assurances given I dont think that WGC can ever give a cast iron guarantee that it would never happen. I would like to see if any other people share the same thoughts. I will continue to crunch WU's as i still believe that doing something to benefit mankind is better than nothing at all i just object to the potential that a company decides to make a fast buck on the back of peoples highly commendible motivations, efforts and exploiting the highy innovational method we have of doing this. Hi, barney15c & mycroft. THANK YOU for posting. It's important that you do. I agree absolutely. The situation with the drug companies is clearly NOT in the public interest. And yes, some pharmaceutical companies are going to clean up as a result of any scientific progress, ours or anyone else's. But as I stated in my post: This fact has absolutely NOTHING to do with our work. The purpose of this project/alliance is to make it possible for scientists to conduct pure scientific research by enabling them to obtain "unrestricted" capital in the form of donated computer processing time. As a result, scientists are not forced to sign restrictive contracts with governmental agencies or private drug companies for the funds they would otherwise need to conduct this research. As a not-for-profit undertaking, these results MUST be released into the public domain. And done!!! This is where our part of the story ends. None of us can control the world beyond the scope of our individual efforts. We do not control the practices of the pharmaceutical companies - our governmental agencies and the marketplace does. Is it not even more naive, and patently self-destructive to say that: "Since one of the unavoidable 'downstream effects' of our work will be that pharmaceutical companies will continue to reap exhorbitant profits, I refuse to participate in a project that has the potential to put an end to disease and the tragic human suffering that it causes?" I do not believe for one millisecond that this is what any of us really wants. A great deal of potentially excellent research is doomed before it even gets started because of exploitive contracts that researchers have to sign if they want to procure the necessary funding. This possibility does not apply here ONLY because of our assistance. By all of us working together it has finally become possible for science to once again be the free spirit for the advancement and improvement of the human race that it was meant to be. Regardless of any other considerations, we need and we deserve to feel unconditionally good about what we are doing. And then we MUST take the time to celebrate our monumental achievement with each other. There will be other challenges. Today's celebrations provide us with the energy and inspiration to tackle tomorrow's challenges. [Edit 3 times, last edit by Former Member at Apr 26, 2005 2:19:00 PM] |
||
|
|
|