|
Speaking of intellectual property and the underdeveloped world, Meme Therapy (Life From a Science Fiction Point of View) asked SF writers "to pick a technology that exsists today that has the most underrated potential."
The most interesting answer was MT's own -- solar power:
There have been a number of developments in recent years that hold out the promise for cheap and easy solar power. . . . Cheap solar power may not necessarily be the most dramatic thing to happen to most of us in the west but it could be the biggest thing since the automobile to millions who aren't serviced by an electrical grid. These developments, insofar as they take place in the U.S., are encouraged by tax credits and government subsidies, but fundamentally they are the work of companies motivated the old fashioned way -- to make a buck by providing a product people want at a price they can afford.
And this strategy depends upon being able to invest in new technologies now in the hope of being repaid later, which means that companies must be able to protect the intellectual property created by their investments.
In areas such as pharmaceuticals and software, however, the underdeveloped world is showing a decided antipathy for the whole institution of IP rights. Much of the rhetoric is based on the pie-eyed piping of U.S. academia, but there is some hard calculation working as well -- the U.S. will produce these goodies anyway, so why not free ride?
Solar power is different. The industrialized world doesn't really need it. So if the underdeveloped world makes it impossible for companies to produce solar equipment profitably, the investment is unlikely to be made. In other words, the anti-IP mind-set could produce serious consequences.
On the other hand, perhaps this possiblity should be viewed benignly -- there is nothing like the promise of actual consequences to induce people to re-examine a rash position.
posted by James DeLong @ 1:45 PM | International
Link to this Entry |
Printer-Friendly |
Email a Comment | Post a Comment(0)
|
