
Yes, You Can Put a Price on a T-Rex (2015) - tlrobinson
https://www.npr.org/2015/10/29/452763153/yes-you-can-put-a-price-on-a-t-rex
======
monista
There is a detective [novel by Douglas
Preston]([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaur_Canyon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaur_Canyon))
(2005) exploiting the high value of fossils.

------
18nleung
There's a reason why the U.S. government doesn't pay ransom money to
terrorists - it would set a dangerous precedent.

While this doesn't necessarily have the same dire consequences, it's a shame
that the door has been opened to scientific finds being co-opted for money.

I'll always look up to Jonas Salk, who refused to patent the polio vaccine.
Some things shouldn't have a price put on them.

~~~
caymanjim
Personal property rights should always be paramount. I don't want the
government or anyone else deciding to take something away from me just because
a special interest group thinks they can make better use of it. The standard
should be far higher than that. Sue is nothing more than a curiosity. I happen
to like paleontology and science in general, and I'm glad that Sue is on
display in a museum and available to study, but there's no argument I could
make for taking it away from someone without fair market compensation.

~~~
TheBeardKing
Isn't land as personal property kind of a gray area though? After all, eminent
domain exists. Just because the US Government allowed settlers to claim land
in South Dakota a hundred years ago, doesn't relinquish any and every right to
the land and its features/resources.

------
qntty
$ 7.6 million for people who don't want to read it

~~~
Jaruzel
That's not the point of the story. It's actually about the T-Rex named Sue
that was one of the first dinosaur fossils to be auctioned at an insane price,
and kickstarted the whole fossil-hunting-for-money industry.

~~~
johan_larson
Fossil hunting for money could be a good thing or a bad thing. On the one
hand, there will be a lot more fossil-hunting, meaning more fossils will be
found. But on the other, commercial hunters are likely to be much less careful
with fossils than scientists would be.

Anyone know how the tradeoffs work out?

