In many ways, we should be pushing for more openness in the science and technology fields. For better, or for worse, they touch every aspect of our lives, so society should be able to know the inner workings and how they're managed.
On the science side, there should be transparency on every research conducted and how it get the money to be done. All the information, and technical data, should be made available to the public as soon as possible. So that we know how things were done, and for people who want to make the experiment on their own can replicate it on their own.
Most importantly, patents on any scientific breakthrough should be limited that they can be beneficial to as many people as possible while giving some resources to the people who made that progress. We need a system that have public interest at hearth, not individual or corporate ones.
On the technology side, the need to have any technology available to be work on by people at large when is made available to the public is vital. There should be clear rules on what is fair use, and how modifications to the technology by individuals can be distributed. To completely restrict or allow any modification to any technology produced is not beneficial to anyones, so there is a need to find a way to allow it to happen.
It can be done and it can be beneficial to the original producer, as it has been demonstrated many times in the past. When the producers engage the communities that customize their products for other purposes, it actually becomes a win-win situation. But only if managed correctly, or it can be a disaster for everyone involved.
At the end, having those vital fields open for all of us to participate in is something that we should be able to take for granted.
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