Comment Re:Maybe not extinction... (Score 1) 608
I think you are mixing up capitalism with the industrial revolution. Capitalism is fairer than say a caste system, but it doesn't make it good just by this. If every one is trying to maximize it's profit this leads to companies saving on wages. This may happen by improving processes and needing less people (good) or giving little money for huge workload (bad). Now you may say "Law of supply and demand! Nobody is forced to accept a too low wage." While this is technically true, there is always some one desperate enough to sell his work force under value just so he can pay his mortgage and food. So if companies are driving down wages in a whole sector the single person has no chance to get a good deal. There is another factor driving down wages: abundant supply in work force. There are not enough jobs for everyone, haven't been and probably will never be. Just look back in the old days where only the man would go to work and would supply it's family and even than not everyone had a job. Now look at the current situation: today both the man and the woman need to work, to have a decent life. So double the work force and an even bigger dependence leading to lower wages.
Going to research at an university most often means making less bucks than going into the corporate world. Yet those scientists make this step. Not because of the money, but because they love to solve problems. They love it more than a bigger pay check.
But today you are often enough dependent on third-party funding. Now you not only need to be a good researcher but you need to make big claims to the right peoples. And suddenly research becomes a business. Business need to make ROI in a short period of time. But fundamental research needs many years for any results and those often enough get into products maybe one or two decades later. So fundamental research is hampered. But not only this. By working together with the firms that are paying your research, you are no longer independent and your results tend to be biased. Moreover you may need to hold results back until patents are claimed. This all would not happen, if there wasn't financial interest in research.
Speaking for what happens in Germany: less regulation would actually makes it harder to get decent internet if you are not in the right spot in a big city. It's an easy calculation: ROI is way higher in areas with many subscribers that will buy the most expensive services. Good luck if you are in the urban areas. I really don't see how deregulation would solve this kind of problems.