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If you increase the funding then the supply of scientists will simply grow until funding as again as competitive as it is today. The first order problem is that

by jules 9y ago

If you increase the funding then the supply of scientists will simply grow until funding as again as competitive as it is today. The first order problem is that the funding ends up with mediocre scientists rather than brilliant scientists.

idiot900 9y ago
In the US, in the biomedical sciences, it is pretty easy to be paid to get a PhD, but far more difficult to become faculty, and even more difficult get a grant as faculty. This imbalance has created the funding problem we have today.
thenomad 9y ago
This argument seems like it needs some evidence behind it. Where's the infinite supply of scientists coming from?
- Fomite 9y ago
  It’s not infinite, but the boom of funding during the Clinton-era fostered a large increase in faculty positions, especially soft money positions.
- jules 9y ago
  From the same place that the infinite supply of budget is coming from.
Fomite 9y ago
It’s more complex than that. For example, consider the subject’s complaint that “This old guy is out of touch” as a problem. It has been equally argued, with data, that giving established, older investigators a steady funding stream simply by weight of seniority is strangling promising early career labs.