waingake

True. So a little tilt then, enough so the sun sets just below the horizon - a day and night in the habitable zone. But when "winter comes" the tilt gets out of whack for a while.

I imagine Game of Thrones is set on such a planet :)

Oh yes I imagine the pharmaceutical industry wouldn't fight such a move at all, would breeze right in.

The cycle of greed wasn't needed to develop the polio vaccine. This was publicly funded, historically more advances in medicine are made by people interested in science and the public good rather than corporate profit.

Taxes obviously. I'd be happy to live in a society where medication research is based on public need instead of profit margin. A drug such as this would save money for the NHS or any other western countries public health system ( bar the USA ) in the long term.

It seems to me that in certain industries profit motive doesn't mesh with the public good. Isn't there a need for a publicly funded pharmaceutical agency that develops drugs for the public good in an open source manner?

I suspect that nearly everyone here will be of the opinion that this is a good idea. If you are up for an alternative ( and yes I know, oh so unfashionable ) point of view, then I recommend watching this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36L0p2w_jtA

Its a fascinating and well put argument by Peter Hitchens that legalisation isn't beneficial to society. Yes imagine that.