5 ms·
It's just own-goal after owl-goal with this administration. Federal research funding (NIH, NSF, etc) becomes economic power. I personally think the government
by jmyeet 6mo ago
It's just own-goal after owl-goal with this administration.
Federal research funding (NIH, NSF, etc) becomes economic power. I personally think the government should get a return on their research dollars but basically federally funded research has been given away to private companies since 1980 [1]. Interestingly, the Bayh-Dole Act was signed by president Jimmy Carter in a lame duck Congress after Ronald Reagan's election victory.
Federal research (via DARPA) is what gave the US so much control over the Internet. NIH funding into drugs gives US pharma companies a lot of power. mRNA technology was the product of decades of government-funded research. The US can (and does) wield that power to extract concessions from other countries.
In a little over a year American power on the world stage has been eroded, even destroyed, to a scale that I never would've predicted or thought could happen so quickly.
This is what I find so crazy: these moves are beyond performative politics. It's actually destructive to American power and corporate profits. Culture wars are meant to distract people while the government transfers money from government coffers to the wealthy. Culture wars aren't meant to be the goal. We're in a new era here.
And of course it's going to be China who fills the research void.
Well done, everybody, the system works.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayh%E2%80%93Dole_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayh%E2%80%93Dole_Act
- dnnddidiej 6mo ago[flagged]
- gwerbin 6mo ago[flagged]
- zzleeper 6mo agoSo, Thiel, Musk, and?
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- burkaman 6mo agoHe is also the real danger. He is an adult responsible for his own decisions and capable of saying no. Treating him and his supporters like easily manipulated children is not helpful.
- CamperBob2 6mo agoThe people who voted for him are the real danger.
- wat10000 6mo ago77 million people thought he should be in charge. Nearly 40% of Americans still think he's doing a fine job. I'll be glad to see the back of him, but it won't solve the problem.
- BLKNSLVR 6mo agoThe only thing that I find positive in this, is how quickly the US is dissolving it's influence over the rest of the world, thus making this 40% of the US population increasingly impotent, at least outside of the US. The problem is what happens to the created vacuum. We know who is going to fill it, but we don't know exactly what it's going to look like. The devil we know is dying, the devil we don't know hasn't quite arrived just yet, and is likely going to take a decade or two to settle in.
- Der_Einzige 6mo agoGetting downvoted for telling the truth. They are dangerous.
- CyberDildonics 6mo agoNot a distraction. If bad wiring starts a fire you have to put the fire out first, then fix the wiring.
- adampunk 6mo agoYou do in fact need to fix the wire first! That's a very important part of an electrical fire. Power must no longer be dissipated via the bad wire before you start trying to extinguish the fire. You don't need to do RCA and repair the cabinet but if you try firefighting first you might be in for a shock.
- CyberDildonics 6mo agoPower must no longer be dissipated via the bad wire before you start trying to extinguish the fire. Says who? This is a analogy, try to calibrate to the conversation instead of making up nonsense while ignoring the context. What you're saying isn't even true if taken literally, take a step back.
- adampunk 6mo agoIn what universe are you applying firefighting material to something that is still electrified? The analogy is pretty easy, man. It is straight up a failure of triage to look at Trump and say “what needs to go is everything around this” Similarly, it is a failure to begin firefighting attempts on something that is still drawing power. Maybe ask yourself why this is a difficult concept.
- CyberDildonics 6mo agoIn what universe are you applying firefighting material to something that is still electrified? Actually you would probably put out the things that are burning. The analogy is pretty easy, man. It is straight up a failure of triage to look at Trump and say “what needs to go is everything around this” It might not be that easy, man, because this sentence doesn't make a lot of sense, man.
- GolfPopper 6mo ago>It's just own-goal after owl-goal with this administration. The presumes that "Trump Administration" and "United States of America" are the same thing. The reality is that a Venn diagram of them would be two circles that barely touch. Is it really an "own goal" if you gravely injure your victim while you rob them?
- BLKNSLVR 6mo agoNo. They are 100% overlapping because democracy. Even if you didn't vote for Trump, you are part of the United States of America that voted for the Trump Administration to represent it. Until the Trump Administration is replaced, the "Trump Administration" _is_ The United States of America. It's certainly not what an increasing amount of the population want to be true, but facts can be sticky like that.
- wussboy 6mo agoHere's hoping that democracy continues...
- butAlso 6mo agoI have colleagues and friends around the world who are done with Americans over the lack of meaningful political action It's not just American right wingers turning off the world. The world sees how unexceptionally gen pop reacts in the US as our local politics destabilize everyone America is a normal country now. All the WW2 heroes are dead and soldiers since were imperialist aggressors. We don't dare worship Vietnam vets or middle east vets as those conflicts were not so valorous. That we have to point back so far to feel good about our history says a lot about how long America has been falling apart. For decades Academics been saying the decline of America started in the 1950s and has accelerated only as countries we bombed to hell to stay ahead normalized. I tend to agree. America has really not been that great this whole time. But like every other nation, Americans been propagandized by each other to believe their American made bullshit don't stink. In my career I have had endless obligations and expectations put on me by peers not out there protesting to cover my healthcare. IMO that's says it all about much Americans care about each other. To billions of exploited sweatshop workers the average American is not much better than the billionaires.
- tclancy 6mo agoWell thanks for joining up to post this. Are we supposed to worship people to be a good country?
- jmye 6mo ago> To billions of exploited sweatshop workers the average American is not much better than the billionaires. Nor are the Europeans or East Asians. > In my career I have had endless obligations and expectations put on me by peers not out there protesting to cover my healthcare. IMO that's says it all about much Americans care about each other. What?
- JuniperMesos 6mo ago> To billions of exploited sweatshop workers the average American is not much better than the billionaires. Then it's extremely important to prevent those sweatshop workers from immigrating to the US (legally or illegally), where they and their natural-born citizen descendants will vote against the interests of the average American.