***Even more terrifying, scientists and inventors who cannot operate laboratories without government funding find themselves bound to a near medieval morality. President Bush, in an August 2001 speech delivered at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, stated, "I'm a strong supporter of science and technology, and believe they have the potential for incredible good—to improve lives, to save life, to conquer disease." But he then followed up that statement by saying, "I also believe human life is a sacred gift from our Creator," and, "I have made this decision [to curb the types of embryos that can be used in stem-cell research] with great care. I pray it is the right one." In such a climate, what will happen to the independent scientist? Somewhere they are toiling in suburban basements, on city rooftops with well-thumbed copies of Popular Mechanics piled by their sides, but with evolution being labeled "just a theory" in some textbooks, try building a submersible airplane in your garage or grafting your own DNA with the great blue heron's today. Try building a ring around the equator or drafting plans for population control that read like poetry. Chances are your neighbors will turn you over to the Department of Homeland Security. And so after praying for a winning lottery ticket, independent scientists should start to pray for a government that doesn't use prayer to draft scientific policy. ***
I'm sorry, what?
In such a climate, what will happen to the independent scientist? Somewhere they are toiling in suburban basements, on city rooftops with well-thumbed copies of Popular Mechanics piled by their sides, but with evolution being labeled "just a theory" in some textbooks, try building a submersible airplane in your garage or grafting your own DNA with the great blue heron's today. Try building a ring around the equator or drafting plans for population control that read like poetry. Chances are your neighbors will turn you over to the Department of Homeland Security. And so after praying for a winning lottery ticket, independent scientists should start to pray for a government that doesn't use prayer to draft scientific policy. Pure unscientific drivel.
Government mandated research has been spectacularly unsuccessful next to the private sector. Look at realms of research undertaken by greedy capitalists: semiconductors, software, medicine, drugs. Incredible progress has been made in the last forty years.
Compare that to two big government research projects: space and fusion (physics). Neither one is noticeably different from forty years ago.