consumers'. Public research policies have supported this process of economic profitability, where research results are increasingly judged by the financial markets. The system of systematically patenting knowledge and living organisms is thus being imposed throughout the planet through the 1994 WTO agreements on intellectual property. Research in many areas is now being directed by private companies." On the global level, "[i]nstitutions dominating a specific sector also, at every level, present the risk of reliance on technical bodies that use their own references and deliberate in an isolated environment. This process can be observed with the 'community of patents' that promotes the patenting of living organisms, as well as with authorities controlling nuclear energy. This inward-looking approach is all the more dangerous that communities of experts are, in all complex technical and legal spheres, increasingly dominated by the major economic organizations that finance research and development." On the other hand, several innovative experiments have emerged in the sphere of science, such as: conscience clauses and citizens' panels as a tool for democratizing the production system: science shops and community-based research. Politically committed scientists are also increasingly organizing at the global level. Values, preferences, popular philosophy and culture Above all, each country tries to impose their values and collective preferences within international institutions such like WTO or UNESCO, especially in the media sector. This is an opportunity to promote their soft power, for instance with the promotion of cinema. Nevertheless, cinema or the film industry also is largely driven by market-based interests – not countries – and has, for example, been criticized for not not portraying well-thought out positive visions of alternative future society (socioeconomics) or real-world problems of climate change (based on latest scientific knowledge). Some have commented on contemporary popular fiction (mainly cinema, film and TV series), saying that "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism" or to imagine how current problems could get successfully confronted. Education and knowledge The effect of commoditization can be seen in the serious tightening of education budgets, which affects the quality of general education as a public service. The Global Future Online report reminds us that ". . . at the half-way point towards 2015 (author's note: the deadline for the Millennium Goals), the gaps are daunting: 80 million children (44 million of them girls) are out of school, with marginalized groups