> A key feature of the university research system is that it is where people are supported without the expectation that their work is going to be commercially useful in any near-term time frame

Idk where you got that idea from, but it's not an accurate picture since the mid 1980s. Yes, there is "fundamental" research, which is mostly a label for commercially not that interesting work (and cannot be expected to yield much open source anyway), but short-term project work and third-party funding are big. Also, much of the research is done with an eye towards profit, certainly in the medical and tech sector. And in the US, universities rely on a lot of private money.

> Knowledge

Knowledge isn't OSS. This (part of the) thread is specifically about (usable) software.

> the progress of the entire species

Them's big words.