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This article is about NASA, and the existence of a large and successful pharmaceutical company industry proves that when there is a public good to be achieved,

This article is about NASA, and the existence of a large and successful pharmaceutical company industry proves that when there is a public good to be achieved, there is private funding for the research. The OP asked for an answer, and the fallacy I’m trying to point out is this assumption that “all” research is generally worthwhile. And I don’t mean just that there are exceptions, but swaths of topics and institutions and researchers and methods that aren’t really adding anything of value. Some areas, like aerospace, have been the focus of intense research for a long long time. This is to the point where SpaceX has been able to walk in and build a space program from scratch. I don’t mean to minimize their hard work, but it just shows that we’re not in the 1930s anymore. It makes sense that you should occasionally adjust your priorities from time to time based on your needs.

hackyhacky 1y ago
No one said that all research is of value. The problem with basic research is that you don't know whether it will be of value untill you do the research. All research is potentially of value. The risk of such research is why the government has historically supported it and why so many world-changing ideas come out of gov research programs. Private investment is risk-averse: they will support reliable short term gains over dubious long term breakthroughs. That's fine, but history has shown it's not the best way.
biophysboy 1y ago
Apologies for the tangents away from NASA - I was just replying to one of the parent comments that mentioned medical research I don't think all research is worthwhile; I think grant proposals should get shot down if the lab/idea isn't up to snuff. I'm happy for companies to do R&D! There's lot of examples over the years (Bell labs, Google, etc). I just don't think it makes sense in high risk situations with long reward lag times. The exceptions will be the really, really big companies flush with cash, which has its own issues.

hackyhacky 1y ago

No one said that all research is of value. The problem with basic research is that you don't know whether it will be of value untill you do the research. All research is potentially of value. The risk of such research is why the government has historically supported it and why so many world-changing ideas come out of gov research programs. Private investment is risk-averse: they will support reliable short term gains over dubious long term breakthroughs. That's fine, but history has shown it's not the best way.

biophysboy 1y ago

Apologies for the tangents away from NASA - I was just replying to one of the parent comments that mentioned medical research I don't think all research is worthwhile; I think grant proposals should get shot down if the lab/idea isn't up to snuff. I'm happy for companies to do R&D! There's lot of examples over the years (Bell labs, Google, etc). I just don't think it makes sense in high risk situations with long reward lag times. The exceptions will be the really, really big companies flush with cash, which has its own issues.