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You realize that academic research can take years or decades to pay off right? Look at nuclear fusion research. Should we give up just because we are still deca

You realize that academic research can take years or decades to pay off right? Look at nuclear fusion research. Should we give up just because we are still decades away even after decades of research? I think this is a major problem in our society. We expect immediate profits off of research, but that limits us to research that is less bold and innovative. We should allow our brilliant scientists to follow their passions instead of following grants.

BurningFrog 6y ago
You have to give up on some research, since there are only finite resources available. This means you will abandon some projects that would ultimately have been very successful. That's true for every possible strategy.
vmception 6y ago
I understand that argument, and it is usually in the context of the folly of quarterly results in the private sector, which is a far cry from six years and twenty five years. Regardless, back to my question, what needs to change to support all the other researchers toiling away right now that won't gain any consensus or utility till the year 2050.
- AlexMoffat 6y ago
  See lb504's answer.
- brokencode 6y ago
  We need a mindset of doing research for its own sake rather than just as a way to profit. What profit could come of going to the moon? Yet we developed many technologies along the way. Realistically, the funding would probably need to come (and already does come) from the government. The government should be funding manned missions to Mars and investing much more in longshot technologies like nuclear fusion, to name a couple obvious ones.
- unethical_ban 6y ago
  Government funding? More "charity" from billionaires? Our society has plenty of money to support people like her and her research. That's the point of the academy in the traditional sense: not a vocational school, but a gateway to new understandings of the world.

BurningFrog 6y ago

You have to give up on some research, since there are only finite resources available. This means you will abandon some projects that would ultimately have been very successful. That's true for every possible strategy.

vmception 6y ago

I understand that argument, and it is usually in the context of the folly of quarterly results in the private sector, which is a far cry from six years and twenty five years. Regardless, back to my question, what needs to change to support all the other researchers toiling away right now that won't gain any consensus or utility till the year 2050.

AlexMoffat 6y ago
See lb504's answer.
brokencode 6y ago
We need a mindset of doing research for its own sake rather than just as a way to profit. What profit could come of going to the moon? Yet we developed many technologies along the way. Realistically, the funding would probably need to come (and already does come) from the government. The government should be funding manned missions to Mars and investing much more in longshot technologies like nuclear fusion, to name a couple obvious ones.
unethical_ban 6y ago
Government funding? More "charity" from billionaires? Our society has plenty of money to support people like her and her research. That's the point of the academy in the traditional sense: not a vocational school, but a gateway to new understandings of the world.