4 ms·
This will get downvoted to oblivion, but it's not obvious to me this shakeup is a bad thing. Some thoughts: 1. US Spending on R&D has gone up from $50B -> $1T
by epsteingpt 4mo ago
This will get downvoted to oblivion, but it's not obvious to me this shakeup is a bad thing.
Some thoughts:
1. US Spending on R&D has gone up from $50B -> $1T annually, and from $3B -> $115B on purchasing power terms
2. The labs rely on government grants, which are hard to get and typically awarded 'equally' or 'by gatekeepers'
3. There is and have been massive scandals that question academic integrity - reproducibility, fake data. The scientific community has done almost nothing to change its mechanisms.
4. It's not clear to me what we've 'got' societally from these studies as a whole
5. The administrative burden to even do science has gotten too far out of hand
6. You can't 'fire' researchers
Research and science is a fundamentally 'good' thing; we should encourage it.
We may need to shake up the way that it's done. Yes science + R&D is long term focused, but it doesn't mean it can't be reformed.
That the article centers on hand-wringing over 'my government grant is gone!' instead of 'you're cutting this critical research that will save lives' without any discussion of 'science' needing to reform unfortunately highlights the core of the problem.
- epsteingpt 4mo agoTo clarify - CORPORATE R&D is up to $1T, while academic R&D is $115B
- jeremyjh 4mo agoI think the core of the problem is a profound disrespect for the rule of law and competent leadership in this administration. This is an administration that does not believe in competence because it has never experienced it. It doesn't believe in laws because it thinks everyone is as corrupt and wicked as they are themselves. It doesn't believe in science because science doesn't produce evidence for the facts they've chosen to believe in.
- BobbyTables2 4mo agoThat is certainly a massive increase in spending... Seems a bit hard to believe. Is it actually separate from the AI related mania? I feel like even the COVID related R&D surge couldn’t have been anywhere close. (Perhaps technically unfair, but I don’t view AI related stuff as traditional R&D given the irrational forces driving it. Seems closer to the Dutch Tulip Mania episode).
- nitwit005 4mo agoThat total R&D spending number is heavily private sector, and is often not what a normal person would consider research, as there is a tax incentive to identify activities as R&D.