I'm not going to cut you any slack on the Ritalin thing, but this is a good response to the R&D issue. Capitalists hover in the wings waiting to find an "opportunity" in the inventions that others (often academics, sometimes their own researchers -- either underfunded or supported by industry-government consortia?) come up with. It is certainly how Bill Gates has proceeded.
Peter
---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 15:31:42 -0400
>At 11:56 AM 5/31/01 -0500, Carrol wrote:
>>Luck was how post-it notes were 'invented,' an accidental by-blow of a
>>failed research program.
>>
>
>That is not at all surprising, and quite consistent with institutional view
>on organizational behavior. In short this view holds that organizational
>actors "satisifice" (i.e. try to meet the minimum requirements) rather than
>"maximize" and the decisions are guesswork often made to acommodate the key
>players' agendas, and only ex post facto rationalized as long range
>strategy to implement organization's mission. There is no reason for
>inventions to be any different.
>
>That casts an intersting light on the notion of whether capitalism is a
>consistent strategy to mold social environment to its advantage - or
>opportunistic search for profits taking advantage of the opportunities as
>they happen but essnetially incapable of long range strategizing. It seems
>that capitalism, especially of the US variety, is mostly luck, a windfall
>of geographic location (isolation from the theaters of major conflicts) and
>opportunities for profiteering created by far-away international conflicts
>(esp. WWI and WWII). Once it reached a certain critical mass, its sheer
>size attracted new resources and allowed to go through by inertia, its
>fundamental wastefulness and irrationality notwithstanding.
>
>wojtek
>
>
>