Rekna

Can the free market be trusted to further along science?


I don't believe it can and here is my logic. The free market is driven by profit and only profit. If something is not profitable the free market generally will not push for it.

I'd like to look at 2 cases.

The first is biofuel. Recently a man with an 8th grade education modified a hummer to run on used cooking oil. His modifications have reduced his emissions, increased his gas millage, and increased the power/acceleration. In a similar case a man modified a mustang with similar results. The mustang was able to soundly defeat a viper in a head to head race running on used cooking oil!!!!

What motivation is there for the free market to push for advancements like this when it will hurt their profits? By decreasing the dependency on oil the revenue from oil shares will also decrease. The free market doesn't care about helping the consumer or the environment only maximizing profits. If profits don't line up with helping consumers or the environment it is put on the back seat. This is why there has been little in car advancements in the last 100 years.

Onto my second case AIDS. AIDS is a very profitable disease for the drug industry. It is a slow killer which cannot be cured currently. Not only that but people suffering from AIDS will suffer from a multitude of curable illnesses resulting from AIDS. To the drug companies this means AIDS causes many of there drugs to be purchased leading to profit. In fact to the drug companies it is much better to treat the symptoms than the disease. If they cure the disease people won't need the drugs anymore and their profits will decrease.

(Update)

What motivation does a company focused on profits have to develop new technologies that will potentially hurt their profits?