Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Capitalism Versus Science

Written by Mike Palecek
Wednesday, 12 August 2009

We are constantly bombarded with the myth that capitalism drives innovation, technology, and scientific advancement. But in fact, the precise opposite is true. Capitalism is holding back every aspect of human development, and science and technology is no exception.

We are constantly bombarded with the myth that capitalism drives innovation, technology, and scientific advancement. We are told that competition, combined with the profit motive, pushes science to new frontiers and gives big corporations incentive to invent new medicines, drugs, and treatments. The free market, we are told, is the greatest motivator for human advance. But in fact, the precise opposite is true. Patents, profits, and private ownership of the means of production are actually the greatest fetters science has known in recent history. Capitalism is holding back every aspect of human development, and science and technology is no exception.


Main slab of the Darwinius masillae holotype fossil. Photo by Jens L. Franzen, Philip D. Gingerich, Jörg Habersetzer1, Jørn H. Hurum, Wighart von Koenigswald, B. Holly Smith.

The most recent and blatant example of private ownership serving as a barrier to advancement can be found in the Ida fossil. Darwinius masillae is a 47 million year old lemur that was recently “discovered”. Anyone and everyone interested in evolution cheered at the unveiling of a transitional species, linking upper primates and lower mammals. Ida has forward-facing eyes, short limbs, and even opposable thumbs. What is even more remarkable is the stunning condition she was preserved in. This fossil is 95% complete. The outline of her fur is clearly visible and scientists have even been able to examine the contents of her stomach, determining that her last meal consisted of fruits, seeds, and leaves. Enthusiasts are flocking to New York’s Museum of Natural History to get a glimpse of the landmark fossil.

So what does Ida have to do with capitalism? Well, she was actually unearthed in 1983 and has been held by a private collector ever since. The collector didn’t realize the significance of the fossil (not surprising since he is not a paleontologist) and so it just collected dust for 25 years.

There is a large international market for fossils. Capitalism has reduced these treasures, which rightly belong to all of humanity, to mere commodities. Privately held fossils are regularly leased to museums so that they may be studied or displayed. Private fossil collections tour the world, where they can make money for their owners, instead of undergoing serious study. And countless rare specimens sit in the warehouses of investment companies, or the living rooms of collectors serving as nothing more than a conversation piece. It is impossible to know how many important fossils are sitting, waiting to be discovered in some millionaire’s office.

Medical Research

The pharmaceutical industry is well known for price gouging and refusing to distribute medicines to those who can’t afford it. The lack of drugs to combat the AIDS pandemic, particularly in Africa, is enough to prove capitalism’s inability to distribute medicine to those in need. But what role does the profit motive play in developing new drugs? The big pharmaceuticals have an equally damning record in the research and development side of their industry.

AIDS patients can pay tens of thousands of dollars per year for the medication they need to keep them alive. In 2003, when a new drug called Fuzeon was introduced, there was an outcry over the cost, which would hit patients with a bill of over $20,000 per year. Roche's chairman and chief executive, Franz Humer tried to justify the price tag, “We need to make a decent rate of return on our innovations. This is a major breakthrough therapy… I can't imagine a society that doesn't want that innovation to continue.”

But the innovation that Mr. Humer speaks of is only half-hearted. Drug companies are not motivated by compassion; they are motivated by cash. To a drug company, a person with AIDS is not a patient, but a customer. The pharmaceutical industry has a financial incentive to make sure that these people are repeat-customers, consequently there is very little research being done to find a cure. Most research done by the private sector is centered on finding new anti-retroviral drugs - drugs that patients will have to continue taking for a lifetime.

There has been a push to fund research for an AIDS vaccine and, more recently, an effective microbicide. However, the vast majority of this funding comes from government and non-profit groups. The pharmaceutical industry simply isn’t funding the research to tackle this pandemic. And why would they? No company on earth would fund research that is specifically designed to put them out of business.

Similar problems arise in other areas of medical research. In the cancer field an extremely promising drug was discovered in early 2007. Researchers at the University of Alberta discovered that a simple molecule DCA can reactivate mitochondria in cancer cells, allowing them to die like normal cells. DCA was found to be extremely effective against many forms of cancer in the laboratory and shows promise for being an actual cure for cancer. DCA has been used for decades to treat people with mitochondria disorders. Its effects on the human body are therefore well known, making the development process much simpler.

But clinical trials of DCA have been slowed by funding issues. DCA is not patented or patentable. Drug companies will not have the ability to make massive profits off the production of this drug, so they are not interested. Researchers have been forced to raise money themselves to fund their important work. Initial trials, on a small scale, are now under way and the preliminary results are very encouraging. But it has been two years since this breakthrough was made and serious study is only just getting underway. The U of A’s faculty of medicine has been forced to beg for money from government and non-profit organizations. To date, they have not received a single cent from a for-profit medical organization.

The lack of research into potential non-patentable cures does not stop at DCA. There is an entire industry built up around so-called alternative natural remedies. Many people, this author included, are skeptical about the claims made by those that support alternative medicines. Richard Dawkins is quick to point out that “If a healing technique is demonstrated to have curative properties in properly controlled double-blind trials, it ceases to be alternative. It simply...becomes medicine.” But this black and white view does not take into account the limitations placed on science by capitalism. The refusal to fund the testing needed to verify non-patentable alternative medicines has two damaging effects. First, we are kept in the dark about potentially effective medications. And second, the modern-day snake oil salesmen that peddle false cures are given credibility by the few alternative treatments that do work.

Technology and Industry

The manufacturing industry in particular is supposed to be where capitalist innovation is in its element. We are told that competition between companies will lead to better products, lower prices, new technology and new innovation. But again, upon closer inspection we see private interests serving as more of a barrier than an enabler. Patents and trade secrets prevent new technologies from being developed. The oil industry in particular has a long history of purchasing patents, simply to prevent the products from ever coming to market.

Competition can serve as a motivator for the development of new products. But as we have already seen above, it can also serve as a motivator to prevent new products from ever seeing the light of day. Companies will not only refuse to fund research for the development of a product that might hurt their industry, but in some cases they will go to extraordinary lengths to prevent anyone else from doing the same research.

The 2006 documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" goes into great detail about the role of big oil companies, auto manufacturers, and the US Federal Government in preventing an alternative vehicle from hitting the road. The filmmaker claims that auto companies would lose out if an electric vehicle was ever produced because of the simplicity of their maintenance. The replacement parts side of the auto industry would be decimated. Oil companies would see a dramatic reduction in the demand for their products as the world switched to electric vehicles. It is claimed that hydrogen fuel cells, which have very little chance of being developed into a useful technology, are used as a distraction from real alternatives. The film maker blasts the American government for directing research away from electric vehicles and towards hydrogen fuel cells.

But the most damning accusations are against major oil companies and auto manufacturers. The film suggests that auto companies have sabotaged their own research into electric cars. What’s worse, is that oil companies have purchased the patents for NiMH batteries to prevent them from being used in electric vehicles. These are the same batteries that are used in laptop computers and large batteries of this type would make the electric vehicle possible. But Chevron maintains veto power over any licensing or use of NiMH battery technology. They continue to refuse to sell these batteries for research purposes. Some hybrid vehicles are now using NiMH batteries, but hybrid vehicles, while improving mileage, still rely on fossil fuels.

While the purchasing of patents is an effective way of shelving new innovations, there are certainly other ways the capitalist system holds back research and development. The very nature of a system based on competition makes collaborative research impossible. Whether it be the pharmaceutical industry, the auto industry or any other, capitalism divides the best engineers and scientists among competing corporations. Anyone involved in research or product development is forced to sign a confidentiality agreement as a condition of employment. Not only are these people prevented from working together, they are not even allowed to compare their notes!

Peer review is supposed to be an important piece of the scientific method. Often, major advancements are made, not by an individual group researchers, but by many groups of researchers. One team develops one piece of the puzzle, someone else discovers another and still another team of scientists puts all of the pieces together. How can a system based on competition foster such collaborative efforts? Simply stated, it can’t.

The governments of the world clearly recognize this as a problem; every time they are met with a serious crisis, they throw their free-market ideals out the window and turn to the public sector. It has been argued many times that World War Two was won by nationalization and planning. Capitalism in Britain was essentially put on hold, so that the war effort could be effectively organized. In the United States, such large scale nationalization did not take place, but when it came to research and development, the private sector was not trusted to handle it on their own.

Fearing that the Nazis were developing the atomic bomb, the US government initiated a massive public program to ensure they were the first to wield a weapon of mass destruction. The Manhattan project succeeded where private industry could not. At one point, over 130,000 people were working on the project. The world’s best and brightest were brought together into a massive collaborative undertaking. They discovered more about nuclear fission in the span of a few years, than they had in the decades since the first atom was split in 1919. Regardless of what one thinks of the atom bomb, this was doubtlessly one of the greatest scientific advancements of the 20th century.

Science, Technology and Economic Planning


Sputnik 1 was the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. It was launched by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. Work by Gregory R Todd.

The ultimate proof of capitalism’s hindrance of science and technology comes not from capitalism, but from the alternative. While the Soviet Union under Stalin was far from the ideal socialist society (something which we have explained extensively elsewhere), its history gives us valuable insight into the potential of a nationalized planned economy. In 1917 the Bolsheviks took control of a backwards, semi-feudal, third world country that had been ruined by the First World War. In a matter of decades, it was transformed into a leading super-power. The USSR would go on to be the first to put a satellite into orbit, the first to put a man in space, and the first to build a permanently manned outpost in space. Soviet scientists pushed the frontiers of knowledge, particularly in the areas of Mathematics, Astronomy, Nuclear Physics, Space Exploration and Chemistry. Many Soviet era scientists have been awarded Nobel prizes in various fields. These successes are particularly stunning, when one considers the state the country was in when capitalism was overthrown.

How were such advancements possible? How did the Soviet Union go from having a population that was 90% illiterate, to having more scientists, doctors and engineers per capita than any other country on Earth in just a few decades? The superiority of the nationalized planned economy and the break from the madness of capitalism is the only explanation.

The first step in this process was simply the recognition that science was a priority. Under capitalism, the ability of private companies to develop science and technology is limited by a narrow view of what is profitable. Companies do not plan to advance technology, they plan to build a marketable product and will only do what is necessary to bring that product to market. The Soviets immediately recognized the importance of the overall development of science and technology and linked it to the development of the country as a whole. This broad view allowed them to put substantial resources into all areas of study.

Another vital component of their success was the massive expansion of education. By abolishing private schools and providing free education at all levels, individuals in the population were able to meet their potential. A citizen could continue their studies as long as they were capable. By contrast, even many advanced capitalist countries have been unable to eliminate illiteracy today, let alone open up university education to all who are able. Under capitalism, massive financial barriers are placed in front of students, which prevent large portions of the population from reaching their potential. When half of the world’s population is forced to live on less than two dollars a day, we can only conclude that massive reserves of human talent are being wasted.

The soviet government immediately tore down all the barriers on science that strangle innovation within the capitalist system. Patents, trade secrets, and private industry were eliminated. This allowed for more collaborative research across fields and a free flow of information between institutions. Religious prejudices that had long held back rational study were pushed aside. One only has to look at the ban on stem-cell research under the Bush regime to see the negative effects religious bigotry can have on science.

But it wasn’t all good news under Stalinism. Just as the bureaucracy hindered the development of the economy, it also hindered certain areas of study. While the many barriers of capitalism were broken down, in some cases new ones were erected as the direction of scientific study was subjugated to the needs and desires of the bureaucracy. In the most extreme cases, certain fields of study were outlawed entirely and leading scientists were arrested and sent to labour camps in Siberia. One of the most outrageous cases was Stalin’s contempt for chromosomal genetics. The study of genetics was banned and several prominent geneticists, including Agol, Levit and Nadson were executed. Nikolai Vavilov, one of the Soviet Union’s great geneticists was sent to a labour camp, where he died in 1943. This ban wasn’t overturned until the mid 1960s. These crimes were not crimes of socialism, but of Stalinism. Under a democratically planned economy, there would be no reason for such atrocities.

Today, it is the task of those interested in science and socialism to learn the lessons of history. Science is being held back by private interests and industry. A lack of resources for education and research keep doors closed to young aspiring minds. Religious interference locks science in a cage and declares important fields of study off-limits. The chains of the free-market prevent meaningful research from being done. Private companies refuse to let new technologies out of their back rooms. Private collectors hold unique and important specimens for their own personal amusement. Potential cures for deadly diseases are tossed aside to clear the way for research into the latest drug to cure erectile dysfunction. This is madness. Capitalism does not drive innovation, but hinders it at every step.

Humanity today is being held back by an economic system designed to enslave the majority for the benefit of a minority. Every aspect of human development is hindered by the erroneously-named free-market. With the development of computers, the internet and new technologies, humanity stands at the doorstep of a bright future of scientific advancement and prosperity. We are learning more and more about every aspect of our existence. What was once impossible, is now tangible. What was once a mystery, is now understood. What was once veiled, is now in plain sight. The advancement of scientific knowledge will one day put even the farthest reaches of the universe at our fingertips. The only thing that stands in our way is capitalism.

RENEGADE EYE

27 comments:

Nevin said...

Ren, a very interesting and informative read... I agree with most of what the author says but my only problem is that, I do not believe it is ONLY capitalism that is holding back science. I believe there will always be a segment of society which will always be afraid to move forward and believe/trust science as an important tool for the advancement of any society. I believe it is the very nature of "humans" that hold other humans back. Religion, capitalism, Stalinism are just internal tools for some, due to their deep fear of discovery and finding further evidence of .... what ever it may be....

I believe there is a genetical error in humans.... And I am not writing this in a mocking way. I truly believe, human genetical make up has many defects ..... such as jealousy, aggression, selfishness, greedy so on and so forth...

Under any system science will suffer.....

I will forward your post to my brother, who is a genetical engineer.... I would be curious to get his opinion on this subject.... :)

Anonymous said...

LOL! The USSR's capture of many of Germany's rocket scientists had nothing to do with Sputnik... it was all "superior Soviet economic planning".

...and we all know that the Ark of the Covenant is currentlt sitting unexamined in a crate in the middle of a huge government warehouse in the deserts of Nevada (or is it some obecure Smithsonian basement in DC?).

SecondComingOfBast said...

"I believe there is a genetical error in humans.... And I am not writing this in a mocking way. I truly believe, human genetical make up has many defects ..... such as jealousy, aggression, selfishness, greedy so on and so forth..."

Those aren't defects, they are survival mechanisms. They make us what we are, and have helped get us WHERE we are, for good as well as bad.

Madam Miaow said...

That's a major piece of work, Renegade. Well done. Very interesting.

Thank heaven, er, I mean thank the scientific team on the project that prevented the corporations copyrighting the human genome.

Anonymous said...

The USSR was so anti-capital and scientifically well planned that it folded.... and is now run by the Russian mafia.

The Sentinel said...

Very interesting article; I agree with some it and I think too it would be a hard sell too for any reasonable minded person to disagree that religion has always been a massive brake on scientific advancement.

But I don't agree that Capitalism holds back “every aspect of human development.”

Most certainly in many medical areas such as Cancer and AIDS the financial inventive for a cure is distinctly lacking when the profits that can be made from life long drugs are so great.

And I think one of the most really sinister aspects to begin emerging driven purely from profit and monopolies is private companies like Monsanto that are heavily involved in lobbying globally for GM crop conversion whilst simultaneously dominating the market that are producing GM seeds that they then patent, license and ultimately control; they have already proved to be quite ruthless about enforcing their patents and I think left unchecked it could have quite serious implications on some countries food supplies.

But in other areas I think Capitalism provides the competition and incentive needed to drive forward and improve a lot of existing technology and create new technologies. I would say cars and computers are two prime examples.

The various vendors of both products are continually looking for ways to get the edge over their competitors and the only way to do so is to continually advance the products and make them better then their rivals and so ultimately many ‘camps’ of experts with different approaches are created.

I think without that stimulus, a lot of technologies would lack the impetus to advance as far, or as rapidly as they are.

Frank Partisan said...

Nevin: I also had problems with his wording. There are doctors, scientists etc. under capitalism, who do their best under the circimstances. Even capitalists get cancer, AIDS and diabetes. The overall argument is correct.

I don't agree with you or pagan about genes. It is impossible to find for example a jealousy gene. I think you're focusing on fight or flight type things.

Sentinel: You should see the movie Food Inc when it comes to the UK. It is about the food issues. It isn't sentimental about killing animals.

The computer is supposed to free us. Now it makes it so you can be on duty, day and night. Add the cell phone to that. I have more to say, but don't want to write a book. New technology under capitalism means less workers, working harder to pay for new technology. Eventually your competition gets the machine, and prices get lower. That's a description of capitalism, not an indictment.

Pagan: See my response to Nevin.

FJ: The reasons for the fall of the Soviet Union are a good topic for another time. Trotsky and Lenin both saw it coming. Trotsky wrote at length on it. Hopefully you'll post on that subject and I'll comment. Ever hear me mention socialism in one country?

Neither the USSR or the US, allowed their space program to be controlled by private enterprise. That's the point. The point is that a country that had majority illiteracy, quickly built itself up. If German scientists were involved great.

Madam Miaow: There is a big problem, with scientists hoarding research, to beat competition to patents.

Ducky's here said...

Good dig, ren. Very interesting and informative piece.

Anonymous said...

FJ is a homophobic racist CUNT who thinks he knows about other countries heathcare but dosnt relaise that we all know he abuses his kids

FUCKING CUNT FUCKING CUNT FUCKING CUNT

Anonymous said...

da sentinel is an inbred daft racist cunt who was raised in a bog sucking his useless dad and uncles cocks and licking his mum and sisters cunt

The sentinel calls others fuckwing cowards but he doesnnt know that we know who he is and he is going to get his inbred racist cunt head kicked in soon

----++++___

FUCKING SENILE RACIST CUNT FACED TWAT

Anonymous said...

Pagan temple is a nasty hompobic racist CUNT and is really just FJ and sentinel dirty little SUB BITCH


HAH AHAHA FUCKING TWAT

Frank Partisan said...

Ignore "Anonymous".

Anonymous said...

Ever hear me mention socialism in one country?

Be it one, ten or all countries, socialism will ALWAYS fail, Ren, and your brethren will forever be claiming that it's "never been really tried."

SecondComingOfBast said...

It's never really been tried, because there's no way it can ever get off the ground. As soon as it does, it will devolve into a state run dictatorship as it always does, where workers are lucky to control their own sperm output, let alone the means of production. There are no natural safeguards-nor are any allowed to exist-that will ever prevent this process from repeating itself over and over again whenever and wherever the opportunity should ever arise.

And even if it did succeed beyond that hurdle, it will not last due to the lack of regard for property rights. That would eventually fall by the wayside-as it damn well should-whereupon you evolve into a completely different system. Maybe not capitalism as we know it today, but for damn sure not socialism as it is generally conceived.

The internationalists aspects are just plain pie in the sky.

Frank Partisan said...

FJ: Just by the creation of the European Union, that's an admission that the nation-state is obsolete.

Pagan: The Soviet Union didn't fall because of the economy. It fell because it became too complex, for the top heavy Stalinist bureaucracy. In addition as Trotsky predicted, eventually bureaucrats will want to pass on inheritance (Yeltsin) from their plunder.

It's capitalism that is failing. It can't provide healthcare, jobs, housing or peace.

This crisis showed that when the capitalists were in trouble, they went to the government.

Ducky: It makes it's case well.

troutsky said...

Scientific advancement does not a utopia make. Beware the excesses of ALL religions.

Craig Bardo said...

Very good trout,

Here's an interesting read, a philosophy professor who fixes motorcycles as an extension of his philosophy. http://www.slate.com/id/2218650/pagenum/all/

I don't buy the premise upon which the article is written but it does raise interesting quesitons.

The Sentinel said...

That is pretty hard to ignore Renegade Eye, but...OK.

All I will say is that constant abuse in that vein from that person - and the fact that I don't post much any more - was one of the reasons I decided to pull my blog offline for a while.

Anyhow, this is off topic but I thought you would find this story very interesting:


"Their opposing ideologies would be a central part of the most destructive military clash of the 20th century.

But here the battleground was just a chessboard.

This remarkable picture supposedly shows Adolf Hitler pitting his wits against Vladimir Lenin. And its owners claim it is based on a real chess game between the men 100 years ago.

While historians have cast doubt on its authenticity, the family which owns the picture is convinced they can prove it is genuine."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1210950/Pictured-Young-Adolf-Hitler-playing-chess-Lenin.html


Either ways, it is a good picture.

SecondComingOfBast said...

I seriously doubt that picture's real. As a commenter on the site pointed out, Hitler looks too old for the time in question. That reminds me of another story I heard, that supposedly both Fidel and Raoul Castro had a bit part in an old Hollywood film. I have no idea if it is true, or what the film was.

Frank Partisan said...

Troutsky: I'm not a utopian.

CB:I agree with the premise, only I would have used different wording.

Sentinel: There is no way possible that it's a real picture. Hitler hated Lenin and Trotsky. They used the Red Army to smash pogroms. He hated Bolshevism. As you know Stalin killed every Bolshevik Central Committee member, who took part in the revolution.

It's a silly picture. Politically in fantasy land.

It's documented that Hitler became physically ill, when I think Goebbels wondered what if he overthrows Stalin.

Pagan: There also was the Trotsky was in a Hollywood movie thing.

tony said...

Capitalism Invests In The Status Quo So I guess your Correct Ren.
Sentinel.Interesting shot but I would take anything The Daily Mail says with a pinch of salt.

The Sentinel said...

Actually, I didn't say the picture was real at all! I just said it was an interesting story and a good picture!

And it ran in every pretty much every UK newspaper in any case with more or less the same copy as the Daily Mail, I just picked the Daily Mail because it had the best shots.

Of course it is in the interests of the owner to claim authenticity for both publicity and potential profit.

SecondComingOfBast said...

It's not actually capitalism that is mainly at fault-or at least it is not the worse offender-but politics, which encourages results based on preconceived assumptions, or to put it another way, wishful thinking.

We've already had this discussion, really. You have one group that want to insist that all races came "out of Africa". You have another group that want to insist that all groups arose on different continents.

What's wrong with just searching for the damn truth, wherever it might lie, and going with that? That answer of course has little if anything at all to do with capitalism. The answer of course if politics.

The same deal with evolution versus "creationism", or whatever they call it these days.

Capitalism doesn't have a dog in that fight. Religion, however, does, and that means politics does.

Frank Partisan said...

Pagan: I agree its not as black and white as the article makes things. I agree overall.

Sentinel: The owner is scammer.

Tony: I'm sure I agree.

Anonymous said...

hey that wasn't me

cool

someone is talking to themselves

I AM A VICTIM HERE!

The Sentinel said...

"hey that wasn't me"


Wasn't who, exactly?

Disgusting. Depraved. As low as it gets. And luckily for the poster, the physical threats were not taken seriously. How could they be really, knowing the coward who was behind them?

Anonymous said...

hey the capitalists win as long as no jews or blacks are capitalists