[kgwgk]

> Some of that funding currently goes to private pockets

Most (all?) of that funding goes to private pockets: researchers work for money, equipment costs money, etc.

[oefrha]

It’s hard to distribute equipment, food and shelter at zero marginal cost. It’s easy to distribute software at zero marginal cost. So let’s start there.

[auggierose]

No one is stopping you. Build it, then distribute it. You will find that as long as people need to pay for their living, there is no post-scarcity world in any domain, especially not the digital one.

[oefrha]

I have built and distributed “it” more than at least 95% of developers out there, thanks for asking. And that’s without institutional grants.

[auggierose]

And without a salary?

[oefrha]

Academic institutions already pay salaries whether they fund open source development or Wolfram Research, so not sure what you’re trying to argue. People haven’t been starving while doing research in the open.

[auggierose]

But academic institutions didn’t produce Mathematica. The point is simple: a lot of useful software like Mathematica has not been open-source for a reason. It is not about distribution being free; it is about production being expensive.