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> Can I paten a technique for saving people's lives that requires no tools and anyone can learn, but no human being has ever done it before (intentionally)?

The fact that anyone would even ask this is a far more dire social commentary than an oddly unoriginal patent. If something has a $0 cost outside of basic education and consistently saves lives, but you patent it and make money off it, what kind of person are you?

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On the other hand, you may just want to patent something to prevent exactly that from happening. Holding a patent does not require you to make money off of it, but it does prevent others from doing so. It's a bit sad that one has to go this far, but there you have it.

You want to ensure the technique remains available to anyone freely: patent it and publish it along with permissive licenses.

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