Klarinet Archive - Posting 000713.txt from 1999/11

From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.org>
Subj: RE: [kl] Dichotomitis
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:41:03 -0500

At 07:32 AM 11/16/1999 +0000, Tony wrote:

>I think, as you say, it depends on who you spend your time with, really,
>Kevin. If you talk to professional scientists, struggling to defend
>basic (and therefore within the business model mostly unjustifiable)
>research, and to get their most talented students any sort of a grant,
>then you start to have a different slant on the benificence of the
>business model in complex situations.
>
>You start to get a feel for the fact that at the limits of our
>understanding of complex systems -- for example the upper atmosphere --
>there are dangers that we cannot say for certain will not overwhelm us
>unexpectedly. You start to get a feel for the idea that the best way to
>find out about these things may not be to leave the circumstances of
>their investigation to be controlled by market forces, which inevitably
>encourage interested parties to 'buy' their own 'scientific' opinions in
>order to protect themselves.

Having spent my life as a professional scientist and teacher, I couldn't
agree more! In the last 10 to 15 years, support for basic research (as
opposed to development) has become scarce, with the result that persons
interested in scientific research have been forced into other fields by
their habit of needing to eat every day. Not a good way for society to
decide what are the important questions! These chickens will be back some
day, to our regret, and then we will have a "crash" program to catch up.

(Its good to be back on the list after a long absence.)

George

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