# Different institutions have created monopolies on various enterprises In the past there was much less of an equivalency between “academia” and “the scientific enterprise.” You had gentlemen researchers, corporate labs, and other who were *just as legitimate* as universities. Additionally, universities used to be much more loosely organized, and less standardized so “academia” actually carried fewer specific connotations. Today you still have non-university research enterprises like National Labs [[National labs and other government research centers are an academic alternative to universities]] but except for the work that is specifically addresses existential threats ( [[Alignment requires existential threats]]) national labs are considered ‘second tier.’ [[Academia has developed a monopoly on pre- and non-commercial research]]. Similarly “Government” seems to have captured the “civic good” enterprise. While there are other institutions that provide for the civic good, they are second-class. In the past this was not the case - (in the US[^1]) people looked to local clubs and other groups to provide public goods and services. [[§Institutions and Games]] - maybe there is another class of things that are “human enterprises” that institutions participate in via games. Through that lens, you could think of ‘sense making’ as another enterprise that has been monopolized by an institution (the press.) In this case you’re seeing a breakdown of the institutional monopoly. Perhaps that could serve as both a blueprint and a warning for breaking other institutional monopolies. It seems like it is good to have *some* institutional structures for participants in an enterprise - otherwise it is a chaotic shitshow, but what you want is multiple institutions going after the same enterprise. [[Having more separate games is good for society]]. My one-track brain chalks the consolidation up to competition destroying cultural [[Slack - concept]]. ### Related * Several themes in [[Palladium Magazine]] around postmodernism and science becoming Science™️ * [[andreessenItTimeBuild2020]] * [[Absolute games are anchored to reality]] * [[Competition and lack of slack creates specialization]] [^1]: See [[Alexis de Toqueville]] [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Different+institutions+have+created+monopolies+on+various+enterprises) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/Different+institutions+have+created+monopolies+on+various+enterprises) <!-- #evergreen -->