I have to agree with the more 'mournful' passages from a general perspective. I agree, it's promising to see the hard work of researchers finally enter the mark

I have to agree with the more 'mournful' passages from a general perspective. I agree, it's promising to see the hard work of researchers finally enter the market, but the comments the author is making addresses a deeper issue. Funding for basic research has dropped considerably over the decades across North America, yet the long-term value has shown itself to be unimaginably vast. It's incredibly short-sighted for a government to primarily invest in research that has direct industrial applications. The returns on basic research on both a financial and intellectual level, as a whole, are massive. We need to keep investing heavily in researchers that are addressing fundamental topics that some might otherwise see purely as 'academic'.