Slashdot Mirror
Scientists No Longer Sharing Information?
chill writes: "A little while back there was an item here on Slashdot about the debate over public funded research and whether or not it should be required to be "open". Well, here is some ammunition to one side of the debate. It seem there is an article in the Chicago Tribune about the increasing unwillingness of genetic researchers to share supporting information with colleagues. The study is from the Journal of the American Medical Association for those who want more than the second-hand summary of the Trib."
With so much tension going on right now in the world and the whole situation after 9/11, personally, I believe that any vital information related to science and other fields of development should be kept confidential and internal.
When Clinton was in office, look what happened (i'm a Republican). First off the whole Sandia National Laboratories scandal with the scientist from China who stole information on nuclear development (please keep in mind, my facts are probably wrong because this happened a while back and I haven't got a chance to research on it), but not even that. Clinton sold China a bunch of our layouts for modernized weaponry, aircraft, etc.. probably due to the fact that China gave the Clinton Administration a hearty donation.
The fact is, in general and it's the truth, if you find or discover something that no one ever has found or discovered, be smart and don't share it with anyone. As greedy as I might sound, it's a fact, it's reality. It's like finding a great idea for a business that nobody has right now. Are you going to go telling the whole world you found this great idea? Absolutely not.
Therefore, I think it's best that for now, any new developments should be kept confidential rather than sharing this with colleagues, and especially colleagues from other countries.
"The ones who dont do anything are always the ones who try to pull you down" -- Henry Rollins
At many of the top research universities in America (such as MIT, Caltech, UM Rolla, and NJIT), I have seen from personal experience that this is not the case. The spirit of academic cooperation and mutual assistance is alive an well.
Any breathing female would certainly be able to find countless opportunities to recieve "genetic information" on any of these campuses.
----------
I am an expert in electricity. My father held the chair of applied electricity at the state prision.
Does this mean that they may secretly have the abilities to create dinosaurs?
No one would share that information, just ask InGen...