It's not an assumption, it was in the example I responded to:
> When he was asked what the device would cost, he cheerily replied "whatever the market will bear."
I also do not need to assume that companies undertaking research are doing it for profit as that is their reason for being companies, and even in the case of research being not directly undertaken for profit, that research - if useful - will go into drugs that are then sold with the intention of making a profit. Not solely, whether cynically or altruistically, the hope will be that the drug is effective.
It's not an assumption, it was in the example I responded to:
> When he was asked what the device would cost, he cheerily replied "whatever the market will bear."
I also do not need to assume that companies undertaking research are doing it for profit as that is their reason for being companies, and even in the case of research being not directly undertaken for profit, that research - if useful - will go into drugs that are then sold with the intention of making a profit. Not solely, whether cynically or altruistically, the hope will be that the drug is effective.