1. If an independent researcher knew in advance that his or her
discoveries, if any, were slated to become instant "free knowledge," it is
highly unlikely that the discoveries would be pursued in the first place.
Few would or *could* devote a lifetime of labor with no expectation of
recompense. (How many major discoveries have been made by Rockefellers?)
2. Aside from the leap in magnitude from "gum bichromate by enlarger" to
"the cure for Aids," which is like comparing a flea bite to the collision
of galaxies, rest assured that whoever does discover the "cure for AIDS"
will be handsomely enriched -- and that is an understatement of galactal
proportions. I know well a few sufferers from AIDS and can attest that
such ameliorations as exist so far are *VERY* well recompensed to the
discoverers, the manufacturers, and their intermediaries, the doctors.
3. In no society, even the most pathologically utopian, is the wish to be
paid for labor considered "greed".
Judy