linking back to brembs.net






My lab:
lab.png
In a letter to the editor of Science magazine, Nobel laureate Craig Mello and neurophysiologist and peace activist John Walsh argue that scientists should cease their modesty and demand more funding for science now, especially in this time of financial crisis:
The proposals are ready to go in the form of thousands of unfunded but worthy grants, thus meeting the criterion of immediate implementation necessary for a stimulus package. And the public should welcome this. Increased spending on research is virtually certain to benefit us, our children, and their children.
[...]
If the United States can spend $700 billion on a Wall Street bailout and another $700 billion on the military and wars this year, can it not spend $10 to 20 billion more annually on research? This would be an investment in knowledge and life, not war and accumulation of personal wealth. It is time for the scientific community to speak out boldly and loudly for such funding.
It is clear that after these bailouts, everybody is screaming for government help now and scientists are no different. There is a point to the argument, of course, that 20 billion spent on research are a better investment into our future than 700 billion spent on war. However, being right, unfortunately, doesn't automatically win the public over, evinced by a solid 50% of the US public still believing in fairy tales about where we humans come from. In the face of such public psychology, I'm afraid that such demands would just place us alongside greedy bankers and incompetent car manufacturers, no matter how well spent that money would be.
Posted on Friday 09 January 2009 - 17:35:12 comment: 0
{TAGS}


You must be logged in to make comments on this site - please log in, or if you are not registered click here to signup
Render time: 0.0566 sec, 0.0043 of that for queries.