Occam's shaving Kit

[Baruch Menachem]

Say you are an evil overlord out there to dominate the world and gather all the cash for yourself. You own some of a vital resource that brings in pots of money. Of course, all that money is spent on raising your power level.

Some scientist has developed a technology that makes does what your resource does, only cheaper, faster, better, cleaner, whateverere.

Do you buy the invention and suppress it, or do you buy the invention and bring it to market? Why would you make the choice you make?

Many kooky folks think the first. Bear in mind, if they do that, they loose the profits by doing the second thing. They can make more money faster by bringing the wonderful invention to market.

And to make it weirder, the resource is mostly found on the grounds of a mad house. YOu have to bribe the inmates for the right to dig for the resource, and they take the lions share of the income gained from it. the wonderful invention (theoretically)
would mean you don't have to deal with the inmates at the mental institution.

Why would you suppress an invention that would make you more powerful more wealthy and having less trouble rather than go through the abuse for your resource?

 

[bruzz]

I have often wondered about this myself. Vaporization Carburetor technology, green energy, why wouldn't the oil companies just buy out and develop these technologies and make the profits themselves? I'm not sure if it has something to do with fear of the unknown or an us against them mentality, but they could easily monopolize these fields with their power over government.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

for the life of me I don't understand the logic of buying and suppressing the better rather than bringing it to market yourself and getting more money and power that way. Especially when you can totally avoid the mental cases by doing so.

 

[bruzz]

for the life of me I don't understand the logic of buying and suppressing the better rather than bringing it to market yourself and getting more money and power that way. Especially when you can totally avoid the mental cases by doing so.

I agree, it defies logic. It definitely seems like if it is a new technology with no incumbent corporations such as cell phones and computers, then the products are not supressed, but electric cars and solar panels are resisted where there was a incumbent (fossil fuels). Perhaps it's the fact that once renewables are in there is no supplanting them as their energy source wil likely last longer than the human race. One common trait in government and corporations is they operate like an "old boys club" where everyone knows one another and outsiders are looked down upon and held down if they attempt to challenge the status quo. I think that may have something to do with it.