The passages discuss relationships between business interests and university research.
Passage A
As university researchers working in a “gift
economy” dedicated to collegial sharing of ideas, we
have long been insulated from market pressures. The
recent tendency to treat research findings as
(5) commodities, tradable for cash, threatens this tradition
and the role of research as a public good.
The nurseries for new ideas are traditionally
universities, which provide an environment uniquely
suited to the painstaking testing and revision of
(10) theories. Unfortunately, the market process and values
governing commodity exchange are ill suited to the
cultivation and management of new ideas. With their
shareholders impatient for quick returns, businesses
are averse to wide-ranging experimentation. And, what
(15) is even more important, few commercial enterprises
contain the range of expertise needed to handle the
replacement of shattered theoretical frameworks.
Further, since entrepreneurs usually have little
affinity for adventure of the intellectual sort, they can
(20) buy research and bury its products, hiding knowledge
useful to society or to their competitors. The growth of
industrial biotechnology, for example, has been
accompanied by a reduction in the free sharing of
research methods and results—a high price to pay for
(25) the undoubted benefits of new drugs and therapies.
Important new experimental results once led
university scientists to rush down the hall and share
their excitement with colleagues. When instead the
rush is to patent lawyers and venture capitalists, I
(30) worry about the long-term future of scientific
discovery.
Passage B
The fruits of pure science were once considered
primarily a public good, available for society as a
whole. The argument for this view was that most of
(35) these benefits were produced through government
support of universities, and thus no individual was
entitled to restrict access to them.
Today, however, the critical role of science in the
modern “information economy” means that what was
(40) previously seen as a public good is being transformed
into a market commodity. For example, by exploiting
the information that basic research has accumulated
about the detailed structures of cells and genes, the
biotechnology industry can derive profitable
(45) pharmaceuticals or medical screening technologies. In
this context, assertion of legal claims to “intellectual
property”—not just in commercial products but in the
underlying scientific knowledge—becomes crucial.
Previously, the distinction between a scientific
(50) “discovery” (which could not be patented) and a
technical “invention” (which could) defined the limits
of industry’s ability to patent something. Today,
however, the speed with which scientific discoveries
can be turned into products and the large profits
(55) resulting from this transformation have led to a
blurring of both the legal distinction between
discovery and invention and the moral distinction
between what should and should not be patented.
Industry argues that if it has supported—either in
(60) its own laboratories or in a university—the makers of
a scientific discovery, then it is entitled to seek a return
on its investment, either by charging others for using
the discovery or by keeping it for its own exclusive
use.
1.
Which one of the following is discussed in passage B but not in passage A?(A) the blurring of the legal distinction between discovery and invention
(B) the general effects of the market on the exchange of scientific knowledge
(C) the role of scientific research in supplying public goods
(D) new pharmaceuticals that result from industrial research
(E) industry’s practice of restricting access to research findings
2. Both passages place in opposition the members of which one of the following pairs?(A) commercially successful research and commercially unsuccessful research
(B) research methods and research results
(C) a marketable commodity and a public good
(D) a discovery and an invention
(E) scientific research and other types of inquiry
3.
Both passages refer to which one of the following?(A) theoretical frameworks
(B) venture capitalists
(C) physics and chemistry
(D) industrial biotechnology
(E) shareholders
4.
It can be inferred from the passages that the authors believe that the increased constraint on access to scientific information and ideas arises from(A) the enormous increase in the volume of scientific knowledge that is being generated
(B) the desire of individual researchers to receive credit for their discoveries
(C) the striving of commercial enterprises to gain a competitive advantage in the market
(D) moral reservations about the social impact of some scientific research
(E) a drastic reduction in government funding for university research
5.
Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by both passages?(A) Many scientific researchers who previously worked in universities have begun to work in the biotechnology industry.
(B) Private biotechnology companies have invalidly patented the basic research findings of university researchers.
(C) Because of the nature of current scientific research, patent authorities no longer consider the distinction between discoveries and inventions to be clear-cut.
(D) In the past, scientists working in industry had free access to the results of basic research conducted in universities.
(E) Government-funded research in universities has traditionally been motivated by the goals of private industry.