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knowledge of all the different markets of the world. I think that coin–
cides with the primary difference of our species from other species. We
are the only species that tries to expand our potential. Other species use
tools, but those tools never evolve from one generation to another.
There is no expanding species-wide or even clan-wide knowledge base.
We have language, so we have a way of recording and sharing knowl–
edge. We have an exponentially exploding knowledge base, and we use
it to expand our own potential and to go beyond any limitation. That is
what distinguishes
Homo sapiens
and has made us the cutting edge of
evolution.
Gerald Weissmann:
I think the question was mainly directed towards
"Our Country, Our Culture"-the United States. It's no accident that
the three speakers in this session have been involved with private
biotechnology companies . The mixture of public and private enterprise,
one goading the other, is very useful in this context. Without the sup–
port of basic science by our universities and our government, we'd be
nowhere in biology. Without private enterprise, with its competitive
edge, we'd be nowhere in biotechnology. The two together are required
for this mix.
It
is interesting that the most productive foci of biotech–
nology are to be found in United States universities, in places like Palo
Alto, Boston, Princeton, and San Diego. In the rest of the world they are
found in Stockholm, Cambridge, Dublin, and Tel Aviv. Neither Texas
nor Oklahoma in the U.S., not Rhiyad, Caracas, or Mexico City
abroad, each with their billions from oil and with interesting universi–
ties, seem to have achieved a major presence in biotechnology. Perhaps
easy pickings from the earth militate against the tough work of devel–
oping DNA.
James Collins:
I, too, am a proponent for the mix of private and public
and have benefited from that. But I am worried about some trends,
where some universities move a bit too much toward the private side,
preferentially rewarding entrepreneurial faculty. I myself am one of
them. I don't do basic science, but I have incredible respect for basic sci–
ence, because those are the guys I utilize. I take their results and use
them to develop technology.
If
basic science doesn't have a strong, sup–
portive home in universities, it's not going to get done anywhere . Also,
the thing that I am finding more and more in applied science in the uni–
versity setting is that many of my colleagues are getting involved with
companies . As a result, they are reluctant to share the information that's
coming out of their labs. Folks are saying, "Well , I can't tell you . I am
