In motion, sort of
Yesterday I moderated a panel at Cardozo as part of a conference called Patenting People. The discussion was about whether there should be new laws (more Congressional oversight?), new institutions (bring back the Office of Technology Assessment!), or new global convergence about whether to issue “morally controversial” patents. (”Other countries ban reproductive stem cell patents, why not us?”)
Given how much trouble we have supporting basic science of all kinds, the benefits of encouraging disclosure of new inventions through the patent system seem to me to far outweigh the burdens. And how will we ever know, beforehand, how a particular invention will be used? So I'm fully in the “more science, more invention” camp. But reasonable minds differ on this question, and we had a good session.
Then I tried to get to DC. It was raining heavily; I barely made it to the train station, and then it took almost five hours for the train to crawl to Union Station. When the train finally ground to a halt, the doors didn't open, and when they did there was a very long line for cabs outside the station. It wasn't a very scientific, rational, or progressive trip. But I'm here now, until this afternoon's train back through the greyness and damp towards New York. Today is all Network Neutrality, all day.