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>All it will do is take government out of the equation. The middle-class professional scientist is an invention of post-war governments to create an engine of
by searine 1y ago
>All it will do is take government out of the equation.
The middle-class professional scientist is an invention of post-war governments to create an engine of progress.
Pre-war science was a gentleman's hobby, funded by the bored rich. Corporations largely do not perform any basic science and simply reap ideas sown by academics and bring those ideas to market. Without government funding of basic science the engine of progress stops. No new discoveries or new scientists, at least not in the US.
- jjtheblunt 1y ago> Corporations largely do not perform any basic science and simply reap ideas sown by academics and bring those ideas to market. Without government funding of basic science the engine of progress stops. No new discoveries or new scientists, at least not in the US. Does Google Brain and their paper that birthed all these LLMs fit this description?
- searine 1y agoStanding on the shoulders of giants, the growth LLMs is built on a foundation of government funded academic training and research without which it would not have been possible. Also, I didn't say there is no corporate basic research. Things like Bell Labs and googleX have existed but they are the exception and not the rule and are dependent on a company being highly lucrative and culturally open to basic research. Certainly not reliable as a primary source of funding and almost completely lacking in training. Even something like the latest explosion in LLMs is applied science and profit motivated.