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Last time, I said this was corporate fears of losing money dressed up as xenophobia and got pushback. Now the spooks are just stating it outright. Chinese and

Last time, I said this was corporate fears of losing money dressed up as xenophobia and got pushback. Now the spooks are just stating it outright. Chinese and American scientists have more in common with each other than we do with the elites that run the government and corporations to the detriment of the population. We should loudly denounce the government interfering with free scientific exchange and funding. Science isn't a competition; it's meant to benefit all of us regardless of nationality. Edit: Last time they were messing with a researcher that was working on cancer treatments. They were worried he'd "steal" cancer treatments and give them to Chinese people! The nerve!

mattmcknight 7y ago
"We should loudly denounce the government interfering with free scientific exchange and funding" $18M his funding was from the government (NIH and DoD). With those grants he agreed to disclose foreign funding sources. He failed to do so.
- vibrio 7y ago
  Agreed, this is made clear in the process of NIH, DoD funding. Initially I thought prosecutors and media wasre overreacting, but the scale of both the foreign funding sources and NIH DoD funding is not something that anyone could overlook unintentionally. Its a shame for such and accomplished scientist.
- tehjoker 7y ago
  Without hearing his side, I am skeptical. It might be he didn't disclose because he knew that he'd be penalized for taking money from his home country. I don't know, but my skepticism when it comes to "national security" and nations they want us to think of as the enemy requires an extremely high bar. edit: sorry got the scientist's nationality wrong.
  - pedrosorio 7y ago
    > It might be he didn't disclose because he knew that he'd be penalized for taking money from his home country. ? “Charles M. Lieber (born 1959) is an American chemist and pioneer in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology.”
  - arcticfox 7y ago
    Even if you got his nationality correct, it'd be an absolutely absurd defense to not disclose because he knew he'd be penalized.
  - shakna 7y ago
    > It might be he didn't disclose because he knew that he'd be penalized That is called fraud. That's not an excuse, and is in fact a reason for him to continue to be in trouble.
    - Brave-Steak 7y ago
      Could you imagine? "I decided not to disclose my tax evasion because I knew I'd be punished. I'm innocent!"
ng12 7y ago
Wait, are you trying to cast the guy who got paid millions of dollars to assist a foreign government as "one of the little guys"?
farazbabar 7y ago
I wish things were as simple as this, however scientists' desire to share and collaborate stands directly at odds with state actors desire to access the technology differentiators. Would be nice to live in a world where these technologies weren't deployed against other humans (on all sides) but that is not the reality we live in.
- frozenport 7y ago
  The fuck is this relevant, the dude was given substantial in pocket money for facilitating unilateral technology transfer that he did not disclose.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
baseballdork 7y ago
I don't get this sentiment at all. China is notorious for stealing IP, they're a major military player (threat), and this professor lied about his ties to China and still worked on DoD funded projects. The government reaction seems pretty reasonable.
- tehjoker 7y ago
  Many many projects are DoD funded and have little to nothing to do with immediate military applications. China is a threat to US hegemony in its own backyard, but to state that China is a threat to actual US citizens is kind of absurd. We're over there, they're not over here!
  - arcticfox 7y ago
    They're not over here - yet. Never in the history of the world has there been a surveillance state like they're building, there's no telling how effective it might end up being.
- blackrock 7y ago
  What exactly is the Chinese “threat” here? Are they going to send a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier loaded with soldiers to invade the shores of Seattle and Los Angeles? And then claim the mainland United States as their own property?
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - therealdrag0 7y ago
    Countries are continually jockeying for power. There's cyber wars, trade wars, cultural wars.
    - gdy 7y ago
      Not the countries. The "elites".
inimino 7y ago
Accepting hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars and then lying to your university, the DoD, and NIH about it has nothing to do with "free scientific exchange".

mattmcknight 7y ago

"We should loudly denounce the government interfering with free scientific exchange and funding" $18M his funding was from the government (NIH and DoD). With those grants he agreed to disclose foreign funding sources. He failed to do so.

vibrio 7y ago
Agreed, this is made clear in the process of NIH, DoD funding. Initially I thought prosecutors and media wasre overreacting, but the scale of both the foreign funding sources and NIH DoD funding is not something that anyone could overlook unintentionally. Its a shame for such and accomplished scientist.
tehjoker 7y ago
Without hearing his side, I am skeptical. It might be he didn't disclose because he knew that he'd be penalized for taking money from his home country. I don't know, but my skepticism when it comes to "national security" and nations they want us to think of as the enemy requires an extremely high bar. edit: sorry got the scientist's nationality wrong.
- pedrosorio 7y ago
  > It might be he didn't disclose because he knew that he'd be penalized for taking money from his home country. ? “Charles M. Lieber (born 1959) is an American chemist and pioneer in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology.”
- arcticfox 7y ago
  Even if you got his nationality correct, it'd be an absolutely absurd defense to not disclose because he knew he'd be penalized.
- shakna 7y ago
  > It might be he didn't disclose because he knew that he'd be penalized That is called fraud. That's not an excuse, and is in fact a reason for him to continue to be in trouble.
  - Brave-Steak 7y ago
    Could you imagine? "I decided not to disclose my tax evasion because I knew I'd be punished. I'm innocent!"

ng12 7y ago

Wait, are you trying to cast the guy who got paid millions of dollars to assist a foreign government as "one of the little guys"?

farazbabar 7y ago

I wish things were as simple as this, however scientists' desire to share and collaborate stands directly at odds with state actors desire to access the technology differentiators. Would be nice to live in a world where these technologies weren't deployed against other humans (on all sides) but that is not the reality we live in.

frozenport 7y ago
The fuck is this relevant, the dude was given substantial in pocket money for facilitating unilateral technology transfer that he did not disclose.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

baseballdork 7y ago

I don't get this sentiment at all. China is notorious for stealing IP, they're a major military player (threat), and this professor lied about his ties to China and still worked on DoD funded projects. The government reaction seems pretty reasonable.

tehjoker 7y ago
Many many projects are DoD funded and have little to nothing to do with immediate military applications. China is a threat to US hegemony in its own backyard, but to state that China is a threat to actual US citizens is kind of absurd. We're over there, they're not over here!
- arcticfox 7y ago
  They're not over here - yet. Never in the history of the world has there been a surveillance state like they're building, there's no telling how effective it might end up being.
blackrock 7y ago
What exactly is the Chinese “threat” here? Are they going to send a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier loaded with soldiers to invade the shores of Seattle and Los Angeles? And then claim the mainland United States as their own property?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- therealdrag0 7y ago
  Countries are continually jockeying for power. There's cyber wars, trade wars, cultural wars.
  - gdy 7y ago
    Not the countries. The "elites".

inimino 7y ago

Accepting hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars and then lying to your university, the DoD, and NIH about it has nothing to do with "free scientific exchange".