Pulling the plug on science?

Christian Science Monitor ^ | April 14, 2005 | Peter N. Spotts

[AntiGuv]

second-rate ping!

[Lekker 1]

generated an enormous number of patents

China and other countries couldn't care a F*** about no stinkin' patents. We do all the research and development, they reap all the benefits.

[PatrickHenry]

Depressing article. This probably won't be a very long thread, but it's worth a ping. Cranking up the ping machine ...

[PatrickHenry]

Science Ping!

An elite subset of the Evolution list.

See list's description in my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail to be added/dropped.

[Iris7]

"Global Warming" is a very serious attempt to get government grants and nothing else. The "Aids" business is also.

My experience is that American science in the post Sputnik era has been fruitless. Research and Development has occurred, but this is not science. Besides, look at the Shuttle affair, billions spent every year on research and development and nothing to show for it.

I figure that government grants for "science" (whatever you want to call the stuff nowadays) has choked off real science, and destroyed innovation.

[KevinDavis]

One of problems I have noticed is that our education systems does not seem to encourage science anymore. Instead it encourages diversity studies and how to be obedient to the state..

[King Prout]

it is easier for incompetent teachers and lazy administrators to teach nebulous basket-weaving courses and indoctrinate servility than it is to teach science (or linguistics, or logic, or math...)

also, considering that out of every four delegates to the Democrat national Convention is a card-carrying member of the NEA...

[LiveBait]

"I figure that government grants for "science" (whatever you want to call the stuff nowadays) has choked off real science, and destroyed innovation."

You're right, science hasn't advanced at all in the past 48 years. I mean, name one thing that we have developed since then? Oh, wait.

[Doctor Stochastic]

In the words of Jean-Paul Marat (with respect to the truncation of Lavoissier) «La république n'a aucun besoin des scientifiques.»

Of course, Marat didn't have the foresight to shower.(Charlotte Corday was no Norman Bates.)

[ASA Vet]

Please provide examples of what you'd consider real science.

[BikerNYC]

Research and Development has occurred, but this is not science.

Research is science. It's engineering that makes use of what science researches and discovers.

What do you think "real science" is?

[colorado tanker]

I wonder if NASA isn't pulling a "Washington Monument" play to try to gin up it's share of the budget.

[AntiGuv]

It's easy to let the trees blind one to the forest, because it's the controversial programs that get so much of the attention. Almost the entire range of progress in science, technology, and medicine since World War II has been a direct result of American grant-funded R&D. As if everything else isn't alarming enough, we are also subsidizing the exportation of science dominance to the rest of the world in our universities, as we increasingly fail to educate our kids to compete effectively and turn our research departments over to the future leaders of Asia and Europe.

[KevinDavis]

I think we would have more of science emphasis in our universities if we dump all of the ethnic studies and other useless classes that we have now..

[CasearianDaoist]

Well if you actually read some of these EU paper, you would not be so worried. Most of them are part of an emerging EU "paper mill." The left like to batter around this statitic but when you actually look at the quality of the work and the sort of citations that are being made the figure s not so troublesome. A lot of this comes up from time to time from the left these days, and it is in part just Bush bashing mixed with a hustle for more cash.

While we need to spend more on science, it must be done more efficiently, and have more of a mixture of private and public monies.

We cannot spend more until we contract the Welfare State.

You should under stand the bias of the article given that it quotes from a denizens of the "National Center for Atmospheric Research." This is just the sort of "science" that we should curtail.

What we need to do is stop funding all of these international projects on foreign soil. Funding Cern or ITER is not in our interest. Yeas, we need to increase the monies, but it should not be a welfare program for some self appointed elite (read democrat) in our university system and our national labs.

[Cyber Liberty]

Almost the entire range of progress in science, technology, and medicine since World War II has been a direct result of American grant-funded R&D.

And here I've been sitting in a private company doing R & D for years. Huh. Guess I'm just wasting time here.

[BikerNYC]

I think we would have more of science emphasis in our universities if we dump all of the ethnic studies and other useless classes that we have now.

I think we would have more science emphasis in college if high schools would teach students about current scientific paradigms without putting political and religious beliefs before science.

[AntiGuv]

What are you researching?

[PatrickHenry]

For one example -- a very important example -- NASA has a probram for advanced propulsion research. A bit of info is here: NASA Marshall's Advanced Space Transportation Program. I'm told by very informed people that their funding is just about down to zero.