Daystar Clarion said:
So this got me thinking. Are companies actually holding back progress instead of helping it?
All the time.
A lot of companies buy up and sit on patents for years and years, other times its just wouldn't be profitable to produce certain tech even though it would greatly improve everyones quality of life.
Think about the cure for AIDS, is there actually any money in it? The citizens of African countries can barely afford simple drugs. No way in hell could the average African AIDS sufferer afford the price of an AIDs cure.
Besides drug companies make enough money treating western sufferers with the huge daily cocktails of drugs they need.
In business you only do something if it will turn a good profit within a reasonable timeframe. They're never interested in the technological progress of humanity.
They aren't evil for doing so, its just that the pursuit of pure profit is the only way they can continue to exist.