3 ms·
Basic research is important science and is in societies best interest to support it. A quote from Carl Sagan’s, Demon Haunted World. > We are rarely smart eno
by e2le 1y ago
Basic research is important science and is in societies best interest to support it.
A quote from Carl Sagan’s, Demon Haunted World.
> We are rarely smart enough to set about on purpose making the
discoveries that will drive our economy and safeguard our lives.
Often, we lack the fundamental research. Instead, we pursue a
broad range of investigations of Nature, and applications we never
dreamed of emerge. Not always, of course. But often enough.
https://archive.org/details/B-001-001-709 https://archive.org/details/B-001-001-709
- tart-lemonade 1y agoHe's absolutely right. Long-shot research with little to no immediate applicability has been the basis for innumerable breakthroughs over the years. If DOGE existed back in the 70s, 80s, or 90s, we wouldn't have mRNA vaccines[0], Google[1] (or the modern internet for that matter[2]), and many modern cancer treatments[3], to name but a few examples of research that would have been easy to brand as wasteful and not "important science". [0]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9975718/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9975718/ [1]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016975529800110X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016975529... [2]: https://www.nsf.gov/impacts/internet https://www.nsf.gov/impacts/internet [3]: https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/impact-nih-research/improving-health/cancer https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/impact-nih-research/improving-...