Let’s see – the regime that has given us or promoted the following scientific advances:
- Intelligent Design (biology)
- Video Diagnosis (Frist procedure to test for brain activity)
- “Global Warming is a myth” (climatology)
- too many disastrous environmental decisions to name…
- Kabbala Holy Water to protect FL citrus crops (agriculture)
…has now moved into the realm of physics, as reported by UPI:
The journal Nature said patent 6,960,975 was granted Nov. 1 [seven months to the day too late – KP] to Boris Volfson of Huntington, Ind., for a space vehicle propelled by a superconducting shield that alters the curvature of space-time outside the craft in a way that counteracts gravity.
One of the main theoretical arguments against anti-gravity is that it implies the availability of unlimited energy.
“If you design an anti-gravity machine, you’ve got a perpetual-motion machine,” Robert Park of the American Physical Society told Nature.
Park said the action shows patent examiners are being duped by false science.
False science? Now who could accuse our dear leaders of that?
I’m sure I’m forgetting other examples; feel free to add to the list…
Did you catch this one from over the summer?
Oh, I love the Onion. Thanks for the giggle.
It is ridiculous to blame the Bush regime for something like this. There is no evidence of that. This report originally came from the prestigious journal Nature, with the headline noting that this had “slipped by” the Patent Office. The Patent Office reviews millions of patent applications. It makes howling mistakes every year, which are regularly reported by science publications. It is a mistake by an individual bureaucrat, and at that grade level they are career employees, not political appointees. So it’s just not reasonable to blame the Bush regime for this. Wild leaps of logic like that, which are plainly contrary to the facts, undermine the credibility of lefty advocacy.
As for “intelligent design,” it is possible to be completely in tune with scientific understandings in biology and still to believe that God designed the world that way. Most intelligent Catholics take that position. Science provides the how and faith the why, one might say. That may not sound very “progressive,” but it is a reasoned and consistent position. And on this point too, it’s not really fair to claim that the Bush regime has caused an outbreak of intelligent design!
But you’re sure right about climate and environment.
The diarist says:
Let’s see – the regime that has given us or promoted the following scientific advances:
Bush certainly “promoted” ID in Augest of 2005. Here is the story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201686.html
It’s a sad state of affairs when the Administration makes it this hard for us to tease apart satire / sarcasm from straight reporting…
I’ll try to remember to include </snark> next time.
;-D
Well, okay. I’m sorry I didn’t take that as satire. I thought it was pretty earnest. It doesn’t seem quite snarky enough for snark. But then again, I hadn’t had my coffee yet when I responded. I certainly agree it was a notably stupid governmental decision.
The Patent Office is simply totally and completely incompetent and corrupt these days. There are vast numbers of things patented whose applications would in a sane world, have been dumped in a shredder the instant they went through the door. Software patents and business method patents are horrible, but they’re also just the tip of the iceberg.
That’s what I found when I finally took a close look at the system. Ashcroft had a nice racket going and the end result is less competiton, advancement, innovation and higher prices for fewer services.
The ones connected in the favored groups are making a killing. Legislation and favorable court rulings help control the decisions. Combined with bankruptcy proceedings and the changes of estate tax laws, if this isn’t addressed soon it may never be.
A BushCo entity patented particular GM seed lines for use by Iraqi farmers and new laws controlled the use of those seeds exclusively with no second generation crop from seed legal.
The really interesting thing is this… Apparently, patent examiners approve patents that potentially violate the rules on the logic that, if they’re ever in doubt during an actual case, they will be overturned by the jury.
Yet juries in patent cases apparently get instructed to uphold the patent unless there’s overwhelming evidence against it, even to the point of discounting expert testimony. Why? Because if it was in doubt, the experts patent office wouldn’t have granted it!
…. Right.
Slashdot linked to an interesting article the other day. Patents are having a documented chilling effect on science. As a quick breakdown, 23% of research projects get delayed by patents. 20% change their course due to patents. 11% get abandoned. And not because their objectives are already patented. Because some intermediate technology or discovery they need to achieve those objectives is patented, and they simply can’t afford to even negotiate a license, never mind pay the actual licensing fee.
Patents are directly responsible for terminating almost a tenth of all research in the United States.
Historical evidence shows that all content restrictions – patent and copyright alike – need to follow the following pattern for optimal productivity. If a protection is acquired when an individual is an “apprentice”, it must expire by the time they reach “journeyman” status. At the very latest, it must expire by the time they’re a “master”. This means that fresh, innovative technologies when they start training can become the basis of their own work.
In the modern world, this means patents and copyrights should last 4 to 6 years. Not 20 or life + 70.
Now, imagine the power, virtually unchallenged power to manipulate legal proceedings to benefit friends and self. How tempting it might be that coming into that power at the end of the dotcom bust and the temptation of devalued stock.
Not only could one manipulate an existing portfolio’s value but it could be the basis of a vast fortune.
What if the laws were suddenly tweaked by unchallenged orders to include intellectual property already valuable and incorporated in growing technology? It could be easy to fall into self delusion of having an honorable motive but that temptation would be there.
How about the power to avoid all accountability for these actions? That might be the one that put me over to the dark side if faced with the choice. The appeal of ‘state secret’ or ‘national security’ could essentially silence all damaging evidence, deny discovery and seal up testimony.
The ace in the sleeve is the ultimate in silencing the truth. Any serious threat to exposure could be set-up…claimed as a terrorist or simply a threat to national security…
…’rendered’ mute in a variety of extraordinary ways.