Technological possibility

"The corporate researchers and academic technologists I spoke with most often described their work in terms of technological possibility, or a sort of cultural imperative to see what technology could do. It is during this 'pre-competitive' phase that collaborations with social and cultural researchers, as well as artists, were operationalised. I expected this would be the case because of the potential for future profit, but my observations and conversations indicated that it was not because there was something to be gained as much as there was nothing to be lost. This effectively meant that artists and social and cultural researchers were the collaborators who took on most of the risks."