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Category Archives: Social Science
Why I stepped away, and why I am back
I’ve been asked where I’ve been for the past year, and to brief about it, I decided to step away from writing and focus on other things, such as working with companies. I also felt that I had had enough … Continue reading
Posted in Commons, Innovation, Projects, Social Science, Technology Transfer
Tagged institution, Moloch, NIPIA, project, rainmaker
1 Comment
A sense of proportion–1
“If life is going to exist in a universe this size, the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion.” —Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy In the Bayh-Dole era–1981 to the present–the US Patent … Continue reading
Posted in Fun, History, Social Science
Tagged gridlock, patents
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The new rule
I once created a game I called “Tradition.” I was trying to find games with simple rule sets. In Tradition, the only rule was you could make a rule or make a move. At the outset, then, the only move … Continue reading
Posted in Commons, Innovation, Shanzhai, Social Science
Tagged adventure, commons, knights, life, management, self-organization, tradition
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On Not Crossing Donner Pass
Turn anywhere in university technology transfer and you will find the “Valley of Death.” This Valley of Death, goes the argument, is the reason why it is so difficult to license patents to industry to create commercial products. There’s just … Continue reading
Posted in Bozonet, Social Science
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Merry Christmas!
Jane Jacobs observed that the purpose of economic life is us. Perhaps that goes as well for holidays–set aside for a moment the organized religion element, if you would–the purpose of Christmas, in a large sense, is us. The purpose … Continue reading
Posted in Innovation, Social Science
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Discovery and Discovery Management, 2
University administrators, too, have oriented their institutions to take advantage of federal funding. Somehow, federal funding increases (to the administrative mind) a university’s prestige, and that prestige then can support raising tuition or getting more funding from state sources and … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom, Social Science, Sponsored Research, Technology Transfer
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Discovery and Discovery Management, 1
How do we discover? That’s a question that keeps coming up in my mind. There are books around that work at this point–to point to some recent examples, Ashton’s How to Fly a Horse, Kauffman’s Investigations, Johnson’s Where Good Ideas … Continue reading
Posted in Freedom, Policy, Social Science, Sponsored Research, Technology Transfer
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The Bush Engine of Technology Innovation
Vannevar Bush argued that it was a proper role for the federal government to support scientific research. This proposition today is regarded as a truth that hardly needs justification. But in Science the Endless Frontier, Bush was not arguing for … Continue reading
Posted in History, Innovation, Policy, Social Science, Sponsored Research, Technology Transfer, Vannever Bush
Tagged BETI, free play of free intellects, Vannevar Bush
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More Fakographic Comment
APLU and AAU published an infographic about university research and technology transfer. Technology transfer, the infographic claims, “transforms society” and the infographic will show us how. The “driver” of this transformation, we are told, is institutional licensing of patents based on inventions … Continue reading
Posted in Bayh-Dole, Bozonet, Policy, Social Science
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How a Moloch state defends its own
A while ago, I was going around with someone about a technical bit in Bayh-Dole. She thought my position was “baloney” because her lawyers had said it was. The language in the law, though, doesn’t support her position, nor do … Continue reading
Posted in Bayh-Dole, Bozonet, Policy, Social Science
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