Now-a-days I'd say science is a profession tailored to the economy. — Moliere

Would it not be the other way round? The economy being tailored to science.

As a starting place maybe it'd be nice if public libraries had access to academic journals. — Moliere

You can get a lot of information from academic journals on the web, but not the ones that contain the information that is moving the economy.
But the question there is, how many people would actually be interested in reading them? Not too many i believe.

Would it not be the other way round? The economy being tailored to science. — Sir2u

I'm interested! One of the reasons I thought to start the discussion was the hash out various meanings of "science".

Care to say more?

You can get a lot of information from academic journals on the web, but not the ones that contain the information that is moving the economy.
But the question there is, how many people would actually be interested in reading them? Not too many i believe. — Sir2u

Yup. And due to budgetary reasons public libraries don't invest in such things because they are prohibitively expensive and the interest is low. Usually public libraries attempt to cater to the people around them (which they should). So in terms of the social infrastructure that might be required I don't think I have an explicit opinion that'd actually be practical. I'm not sure how to get there.

But it seems fair. Why block knowledge? Isn't that a good thing for the public in a democracy?

One of the reasons I thought to start the discussion was the hash out various meanings of "science". — Moliere

How would you define it?

Care to say more? — Moliere

Maybe.

And due to budgetary reasons public libraries don't invest in such things because they are prohibitively expensive and the interest is low. — Moliere

Yep. Where I live there is not really such a thing as public libraries, I think there might be 3 or 4 in the country. Most of the universities have libraries but except for the one attached to my place of work I have no idea if they are even used.
After reading an article a couple of years ago I made a few inquiries over the internet to public libraries I found that most of them would make an effort to get the books they don't have if asked in advance.

But it seems fair. Why block knowledge? Isn't that a good thing for the public in a democracy? — Moliere

Fair plays a very minor role in society, haven't you noticed? Research is expensive, if your company has spent millions of dollars developing some sort of technology you do not want others getting it and preventing you from recovering the money. People in your company would lose their jobs maybe.
If it was a true democracy them everyone would respect the rights of others and information could be freely spread around. If it was a true democracy them everyone would know all about the people the are voting for and fewer idiots would be elected.

How would you define it? — Sir2u

I think that science is a part of knowledge. I don't have a general definition in the sense for all possible examples.

But usually I think of it as any culture's knowledge which enables. Science and technology, for me, are closely linked. I'm more skeptical of notions of science which posit metaphysical theses. I tend to think of science as what human beings do together. But the specifics of that, verses other things we do together, aren't easy for me to pin down.

Somehow human beings come together in groups and are able to generate knowledge that happens to be useful to people outside of that group, but in a particular way too. Something to do with being able to manipulate our environment.

I think of science as the process of acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge being the result of scientific examination and experimentation.
That is why knowledge is so well kept by the industries that succeed in gaining it, it is bloody expensive to maintain the labs and funded universities that do the research.

I think of science as the process of acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge being the result of scientific examination and experimentation. — Sir2u

I agree with this.

That is why knowledge is so well kept by the industries that succeed in gaining it, it is bloody expensive to maintain the labs and funded universities that do the research.

Oh, sure. I'm aware. Knowledge is valuable. Not just in some esoteric sense. It's worth money. Lots of it.