I think we need fewer gov’t funded scientists looking for a study to do & more ditch diggers.
Many in the media and on the left in general are oh, so fond of quoting Ike's farewell address when it comes to their bleating about, "the military-industrial complex," so much so that phrase has become a regular term of our political discourse.
Curiously, Eisenhower also warned of another threat in that speech which he saw of equal danger, yet you never seem to hear much about the, "scientific-technological elite."
Eisenhower's address is fascinating to read in its entirety, especially with the benefit of 50+ years of hindsight, and in the context of the global warming scandal, etc. Specifically, Ike warned:
"Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite."