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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
by kemiller 10y 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 10y agoI 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 10y agoIs 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 10y agoIt is. There is competition for altruism and organized processes oriented around collecting it.
- dredmorbius 10y agoIt'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.)