Investment in Science

[john titor]

Money should only be invested in worthwhile scientific endevours, not in researching whales or building particle accelerators but in military applications and improving already existing infrastructures to keep America strong. Too much money is flittered away on frivolous research projects, we need to concentrate on the immediate here and now, not on some fanciful sci fi concept like string theory.

 

[Jadzia]

And what about the rest of the world?

 

[Deckerd]

I'm fairly sure the LHC was mostly funded by Europeans, so your money's safe there.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Ok, now if they cancel my funding I will be mighty pissed at you!

More seriously, it's dumb. Science breakthroughs come from the most unlikely places. If you only only keep pay for what you have now, you will never have something new. What you call a "frivolous research project" today, might give you free and clean energy tomorrow. You just don't know until you go there.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Ok, now if they cancel my funding I will be mighty pissed at you!

More seriously, it's dumb. Science breakthroughs come from the most unlikely places. If you only only keep pay for what you have now, you will never have something new. What you call a "frivolous research project" today, might give you free and clean energy tomorrow. You just don't know until you go there.

That was going to be my point, so many discoveries are/were unexpected results of other lines of study, whose to say what's worthwhile and what's not when anything could lead to a new discovery.

 

[John Picard]

Money should only be invested in worthwhile scientific endevours, not in researching whales or building particle accelerators but in military applications and improving already existing infrastructures to keep America strong. Too much money is flittered away on frivolous research projects, we need to concentrate on the immediate here and now, not on some fanciful sci fi concept like string theory.

I believe President Eisenhower warned us to "beware the Military Industrial Complex" and as such I ask, A) define "worthwhile scientific endeavors", and B) why military applications?

 

[ThankQ]

The electron, when discovered, wasn't at all useful.

Today the world is run on electronics.

 

[Jadzia]

From the humble observations of the stars we found reliable methods of navigation for ships. Stargazing also gave us a reliable measurement of time, via the calendar.

Frivolous space-age research in general has given us satellites, that we are using right now for the internet, global news and communication, gps and related systems, and satellite television.

And on the opposite end of the scale, we have the transistor and other semiconductors (like the LED, and the microprocessor), whose principles were found possible in the frivolous research into quantum mechanics: understanding the electron orbitals of atoms.

 

[ThankQ]

we need to concentrate on the immediate here and now

This part really gets me.

In the immediate here and now, smoking cigarettes is no big deal. But just keep doing it....

 

[john titor]

But if we focus on the here and now in terms of military and computer tech we'd discover news things which would be discovered by research anyway. Why should the social behaviour fruit flies constitute a valid research projet. I'm with senator Palin on this one.

YUH!

 

[John Picard]

But if we focus on the here and now in terms of military and computer tech we'd discover news things which would be discovered by research anyway. Why should the social behaviour fruit flies constitute a valid research projet. I'm with senator Palin on this one.

YUH!

OH geez Who is Senator Palin?

 

[john titor]

But if we focus on the here and now in terms of military and computer tech we'd discover news things which would be discovered by research anyway. Why should the social behaviour fruit flies constitute a valid research projet. I'm with senator Palin on this one.

YUH!

OH geez Who is Senator Palin?

Whatever she is nowadays, newscaster I suppose. America needs to lead the way in terms of defence, we need better fighter jets, laser beam platforms and the like. Therefore investment should be channeled into these areas so that we're no.1.

 

[ThankQ]

But if we focus on the here and now in terms of military and computer tech we'd discover news things which would be discovered by research anyway. Why should the social behaviour fruit flies constitute a valid research projet. I'm with senator Palin on this one.

YUH!

But I have no interest in military or computer tech. They're BORING! I'll happily use the computer someone else made, but I don't want to go into any fields dealing with computers and military.

If you only want PRACTICAL knowledge, we'll have to kill a lot more than fruitfly research.

What exactly are you going to do on this computer? Talk only about tanks and choppers?

You like things that go boom, and you like geeky techy stuff. That's cool. I don't. I like fruit flies and string theory.

 

[ThankQ]

But if we focus on the here and now in terms of military and computer tech we'd discover news things which would be discovered by research anyway. Why should the social behaviour fruit flies constitute a valid research projet. I'm with senator Palin on this one.

YUH!

OH geez Who is Senator Palin?

Whatever she is nowadays, newscaster I suppose. America needs to lead the way in terms of defence, we need better fighter jets, laser beam platforms and the like. Therefore investment should be channeled into these areas so that we're no.1.

We are already number one in defense.

We are not, however, number one in things like, oh I dunno, education.

Let's be number one there, then worry about killing brown people later.

 

[John Picard]

OH geez Who is Senator Palin?

Whatever she is nowadays, newscaster I suppose. America needs to lead the way in terms of defence, we need better fighter jets, laser beam platforms and the like. Therefore investment should be channeled into these areas so that we're no.1.

We are already number one in defense.

We are not, however, number one in things like, oh I dunno, education.

Let's be number one there, then worry about killing brown people later.

Aw bloody hell! DON'T FEED THE TROLL!

 

[ThankQ]

^My bad.

 

[John Picard]

^My bad.

No worries. I started it and then realized it after the response about "Senator Palin"

 

[john titor]

OH geez Who is Senator Palin?

Whatever she is nowadays, newscaster I suppose. America needs to lead the way in terms of defence, we need better fighter jets, laser beam platforms and the like. Therefore investment should be channeled into these areas so that we're no.1.

We are already number one in defense.

We are not, however, number one in things like, oh I dunno, education.

Let's be number one there, then worry about killing brown people later.

Wait a second, where did I ever suggest what you're suggesting? I just want America to be an impenetrable fortress, that is all.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

A fortress against whom? China? They're not going to attack somewhere that owes them so much money.

 

[john titor]

against terrorists.