4 ms·

I can't help but see publicly-funded science as deprecated in favor of market-driven science. There's simply too many fields for government largesse to really b

I can't help but see publicly-funded science as deprecated in favor of market-driven science. There's simply too many fields for government largesse to really be able to fund in force. I wish it didn't have to be so subject to the whims of popular opinion, but really, I can't think of a better way.

kemiller 11y ago
Markets do a terrible job of funding basic research because it rarely pays off within commercial timeframes. Or even lifetimes. But it's obviously vital to a society long-term.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  I agree, but like I said, I can't think of a more politically acceptable alternative. Maybe one day science will get sexy again and POTUS will be able to do Obamacare for science. Until then it's up to the markets.
  - kemiller 11y ago
    Is charity a market mechanism? I honestly don't know. But apparently there has been a trend toward more private funding of basic research: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/are-we-entering-a-golden-era-of-private-science-funding/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction...
    - vinceguidry 11y ago
      It is. There is competition for altruism and organized processes oriented around collecting it.
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  It's not just that the research may not pay off for a long time, but it's very hard to tell what is useful research from what isn't. Poking at all sorts of things with sticks seems necessary. (There's another question as to how useful technology actually is, but I'll avoid going there for now.)
dredmorbius 11y ago
Markets and information goods play very poorly. Actually, markets and many goods play far more poorly than most people, and all free-market fundies, believe. I'm not saying markets aren't powerful. But they're horribly inaccurate. And that includes at achieving Pareto efficiency.

4 ms·

I can't help but see publicly-funded science as deprecated in favor of market-driven science. There's simply too many fields for government largesse to really b

by vinceguidry 11y ago

kemiller 11y ago
Markets do a terrible job of funding basic research because it rarely pays off within commercial timeframes. Or even lifetimes. But it's obviously vital to a society long-term.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  I agree, but like I said, I can't think of a more politically acceptable alternative. Maybe one day science will get sexy again and POTUS will be able to do Obamacare for science. Until then it's up to the markets.
  - kemiller 11y ago
    Is charity a market mechanism? I honestly don't know. But apparently there has been a trend toward more private funding of basic research: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/are-we-entering-a-golden-era-of-private-science-funding/ http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction...
    - vinceguidry 11y ago
      It is. There is competition for altruism and organized processes oriented around collecting it.
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  It's not just that the research may not pay off for a long time, but it's very hard to tell what is useful research from what isn't. Poking at all sorts of things with sticks seems necessary. (There's another question as to how useful technology actually is, but I'll avoid going there for now.)
dredmorbius 11y ago
Markets and information goods play very poorly. Actually, markets and many goods play far more poorly than most people, and all free-market fundies, believe. I'm not saying markets aren't powerful. But they're horribly inaccurate. And that includes at achieving Pareto efficiency.