Knowledge as Commons: Toward Inclusive Science and Technology

Knowledge as Commons traces the historical path towards the privatization of knowledge, situating science, technology and the emergence of modern nations in a larger historical framework. Author Prabir Purkayastha asks: Do the needs of society drive science and technology? Or do developments in science and technology provide the motor force of history? Has this relationship changed over time? Purkayastha shows us that, with profit as its sole aim, capital claims to own human knowledge and its products, fencing them in with patents and intellectual property rights. Neoliberal institutions and policy diktats from the West have installed a global system in which knowledge, that limitless resource, is made artificially scarce—while limited resources such as water and clean air are treated as though they were infinite.

Arguing that rapid technological advances, from the introduction of pharmaceuticals to electronics, should be an opportunity to deliver quicker cures, affordable access, and global cooperation in the production of knowledge, Purkayastha examines the consequences of this privatization for universities, healthcare, distributive justice, the domestic politics of developing countries, and their prospects vis-à-vis the West.

What people have said about Prabir Purkayastha

Prabir Purkayastha is an engineer in the power, telecom, and software sectors, a founding member of the Delhi Science Forum and editor of Newsclick.in. A scientist-activist, he is co-author, with Vijay Prashad, of Enron Blowout: Corporate Capitalism and Theft of the Global Commons (LeftWord 2002). As of late 2023, the 74-year-old was being held in New Delhi’s Tihar Prison Complex under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.