Err, what?! Companies don't exist to save lives or explore intellectual curiosity. They exist to make money. Therefore we do have a responsibility to try and make the profit motive line up with more humanistic motives.
A strongly decreased financial incentive is disincentive in a system where
1) Equipment and the necessities of life cost money, to say nothing of opportunity cost. Even the most ascetic lab rat can't eat good feelings and intellectual curiosity.
2) If you're looking to raise capital, E(ROI)>0 makes it 100x easier to raise 100x as much capital (perhaps this is exaggerating, but capital markets are MUCH larger than charity markets).
A strongly decreased financial incentive is disincentive in a system where
1) Equipment and the necessities of life cost money, to say nothing of opportunity cost. Even the most ascetic lab rat can't eat good feelings and intellectual curiosity.
2) If you're looking to raise capital, E(ROI)>0 makes it 100x easier to raise 100x as much capital (perhaps this is exaggerating, but capital markets are MUCH larger than charity markets).