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A comment on Boeing cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs with thousands more planned. Parent comment

Re:Boeing cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs with thousands ... by CreRecombinase on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @01:38PM (#23326879)
Even Bell Labs wasn't suddenly Bell Labs though. Even when Bell Labs was "Bell Labs", was it ever profitable for those who were footing the bill (as opposed to society at large, which it obviously was)?
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Re:Boeing cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs with thousands ... by spamizbad on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @03:12PM (#23328373)
Wasn't Bell Labs funded by a tax/surcharge on people's phone bills? I believe there was some restrictions on commercializing its developments as well. It could do research, create things for internal use at AT&T, but not traditional product development.
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Re:Boeing cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs with thousands ... by Ericson2314 on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @02:07PM (#23327315)
Bell labs was good precisely because I doubt it ever made anyone much money. Hmmmm.....
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Re:Boeing cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs with thousands ... by wwright on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @02:45PM (#23327926)
Someone could make some good money by explaining how this squares with the conventional wisdom that optimizing for profit also optimizes for the good of mankind.
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Re:Boeing cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs with thousands ... by jfk13 on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @04:37PM (#23329631)
That's "conventional wisdom"? It sounds like a pretty implausible proposition to me.
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Re:Boeing cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs with thousands ... by Ericson2314 on Thursday May 28, 2020 @03:00PM (#23341026)
hahaha I (think I) see what you did there
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