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Comment by conanbatt | Hacker News Reader

Effort != value.

A single person could discover the cure to cancer tomorrow, and he would save billions of lives, even though he has the human labor of one.

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As someone getting well with an incurable genetic disorder while the world calls me crazy and generally tries to tell me to STFU because I must be making that up, I find comments like this ironic at best.

Good luck getting the word out if one person solved it rather than a member of a team in a large lab and yadda. More likely outcome: The "one guy" who cures cancer will be written off as a member of the lunatic fringe and have endless doors slammed shut in his face.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

I would guess the person who discovers a cure like this will do so on top of a bunch of preceding human labor, maybe even publicly funded.

That puts societies free riders really into debt

How would you calculate the value (to society) of Amazon? A lot of small businesses have folded as a result of pressure from that behemoth. Yes, consumers have benefited from lower prices, but the total value is unclear. There is considerable debate in antitrust circles concerning what to do about Amazon [1].

[1] https://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/e.710.Khan.805_zuvfyyeh.p...

How many people would be sad if amazon closed up shop tomorrow?

What is the value of the society that raised him and all the research and effort that came before him?

Society's profit is cancer is cured, why wouldn't that suffice.

Well that depends on what he wants to charge for the drug now doesn't it? and dont give me some free market BS because there is very little free market left in pharma pricing. its just extortion by making artificial monopolies plain and simple.

> its just extortion by making artificial monopolies plain and simple.

I agree, that is done by the state. They put the rules.

Yes, patents give companies monapolies for a limited time but I don't see how a company having a monopoly on a drug for a limited time makes anyone worse as the alternative is to just not have the drug at all.

And if your argument is that the government should fund all drug research, realize that they are fully capable of doing so and then patenting the drug and giving it out for free in our current system. Thus, both funding models can work in cohesion.

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