> Franklin/Jefferson/Priestley/Watt type science, where the science is pursued for fun and interest Entire fields are now off-limits to individuals (even wealt

> Franklin/Jefferson/Priestley/Watt type science, where the science is pursued for fun and interest Entire fields are now off-limits to individuals (even wealthy ones) due to bureaucracy. Even if you can afford to fork over, say, $25K for something as basic as an analytical balance, chemical supply houses are forbidden by US law to ship anything (even table salt) to a private residence. (Actually, the truth is more complicated - it is not prohibited per se, but most of them simply will not deal with a non-corporate/non-academic purchaser due to the required paperwork overhead not paying off.) Hobby electronics is still legal (for now - just wait until the War on Copyright Infringement approaches the scale of the War on Drugs.) But if your science requires professionally-manufactured precision equipment or even the simplest chemical feedstock, all bets are off.