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I don't think crowdfunding is a good funding source for science in general. Crowdfunding's going to overemphasize already popular and easy to explain science at

I don't think crowdfunding is a good funding source for science in general. Crowdfunding's going to overemphasize already popular and easy to explain science at the expense of everything else. Boring sounding and unfamiliar stuff like the research I'd like to do would not succeed.

blooalien 1y ago
> "Boring sounding and unfamiliar stuff like the research I'd like to do would not succeed." "Boring sounding" to anyone who don't have a "passion" for that particular area of science as you must if you're wanting to research it. The (hard) trick is to get your crowdfunding request in front of the specific eyeballs that will understand (and be excited by) your motivations and interests enough to want to finance advancing that research.
bluSCALE4 1y ago
I disagree. There's a guy that doesn't have much attention that's creating fuel from burning plastic. He got crowdfunded. I also recall finding a website way back when of a dude that explored the old railroad tunnels of downtown Chicago. I would have 100% funded that guy for content.
- btrettel 1y ago
  This guy? https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-solarpowered-plastic-to-fuel-innovation https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-solarpowered-plastic-to-f... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Brown_(influencer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Brown_(influencer) He gets $36K from about 800 donors for a project that seems pretty easy to explain ("creating fuel from burning plastic") and is something probably millions of people are interested in. Wikipedia says he has millions of followers! The stuff I'd like to do would probably not have even 800 people interested in it after I carefully explained it. And $36K is not a lot when it comes to experimental research in the physical world. In my view, working a day job and taking periodic sabbaticals would have better ROI for this guy and myself.

blooalien 1y ago

> "Boring sounding and unfamiliar stuff like the research I'd like to do would not succeed." "Boring sounding" to anyone who don't have a "passion" for that particular area of science as you must if you're wanting to research it. The (hard) trick is to get your crowdfunding request in front of the specific eyeballs that will understand (and be excited by) your motivations and interests enough to want to finance advancing that research.

bluSCALE4 1y ago

I disagree. There's a guy that doesn't have much attention that's creating fuel from burning plastic. He got crowdfunded. I also recall finding a website way back when of a dude that explored the old railroad tunnels of downtown Chicago. I would have 100% funded that guy for content.

btrettel 1y ago
This guy? https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-solarpowered-plastic-to-fuel-innovation https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-solarpowered-plastic-to-f... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Brown_(influencer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Brown_(influencer) He gets $36K from about 800 donors for a project that seems pretty easy to explain ("creating fuel from burning plastic") and is something probably millions of people are interested in. Wikipedia says he has millions of followers! The stuff I'd like to do would probably not have even 800 people interested in it after I carefully explained it. And $36K is not a lot when it comes to experimental research in the physical world. In my view, working a day job and taking periodic sabbaticals would have better ROI for this guy and myself.