Ask Bannon and the tea party GOP: Who needs science when the Apocalypse comes?
24
When everything you believe is based on lies and fake news, a war on science can not be avoided.
27
In an editorial, Bob Burnett wrote “In 2013, Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal warned the GOP to ‘stop being the stupid party.’ Jindal said Republican candidates should ‘stop insulting the intelligence of voters... with offensive and bizarre statements’. However, Jindal didn’t listen to his own advice; on May 10th, Jindal endorsed Donald Trump. Stupid is as stupid does.”
Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, was a foreign policy adviser to the presidential campaigns of John McCain, Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, concluded in a NYT editorial “In a way, the joke’s on the Republican Party: After decades of masquerading as the ‘stupid party,’ that’s what it has become. But if an unapologetic ignoramus wins the presidency, the consequences will be no laughing matter [emphasis added].”
Looks like the joke’s on America.
References:
Burnett, Bob. 2016. The Birth of the Stupid Party. Huffington Post,
May 25, 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-burnett/the-birth-of-the-stupid-p_b_10....
How the ‘Stupid Party’ Created Donald Trump. Max Boot, NYT, July 31, 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/opinion/how-the-stupid-party-created-...
Max Boot, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, was a foreign policy adviser to the presidential campaigns of John McCain, Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio, concluded in a NYT editorial “In a way, the joke’s on the Republican Party: After decades of masquerading as the ‘stupid party,’ that’s what it has become. But if an unapologetic ignoramus wins the presidency, the consequences will be no laughing matter [emphasis added].”
Looks like the joke’s on America.
References:
Burnett, Bob. 2016. The Birth of the Stupid Party. Huffington Post,
May 25, 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-burnett/the-birth-of-the-stupid-p_b_10....
How the ‘Stupid Party’ Created Donald Trump. Max Boot, NYT, July 31, 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/opinion/how-the-stupid-party-created-...
29
ooops, "plain and simple" !
Thiel forgot to mention the internet (ironically) as another government success.
31
What can anyone expect from an administration most of whose appointees are too arrogant to try to understand anything?
42
...and then there's taking the word "science" out of the Mission Statement for the "Office of Science and Technology" in the EPA...
19
Back in the 1960's, the federal government was the earliest and largest customer of the newfangled and incredibly expensive semiconductor devices being made in what is now known as "Silicon Valley".
36
Let's become Venezuela!
More money to drill and use up our remaining resources as fast as we can, less money to solve problems and advance our country.
Give up our scientific leadership that we had for the 20th century to China.
Thanks Michigan (Thanks Pennsylvania).....
More money to drill and use up our remaining resources as fast as we can, less money to solve problems and advance our country.
Give up our scientific leadership that we had for the 20th century to China.
Thanks Michigan (Thanks Pennsylvania).....
70
Science is reality. Why is our President afraid of reality?
Hmmm?
Hmmm?
40
Glad to see this Op-Ed piece. No matter who or where you are, science has shaped your life. If science is important to you, there's a March for Science on April 22nd in Washington, with a satellite march in nearly every state. Several other countries are participating, too.
https://www.marchforscience.com
https://www.marchforscience.com
30
Obama with the support from the NYT eb essentially killed NASA. As with so many other subjects the eb has no credibility,
5
Donald Trump and his supporters in the Republican party illustrate a staggering degree of ignorance and it is not limited to science and the arts. Health care, the budget, trade, climate change and social programs are included in the lineup of the absolutely dumbest group of people on the planet.
This traitor and his cronies really need to go. He and his ilk are an embarrassment to the nation. Lies and cover-ups don't make for a great country. We have elected a moron supported by the most under informed group of suckers ever assembled in one place.
This is a nightmare.
This traitor and his cronies really need to go. He and his ilk are an embarrassment to the nation. Lies and cover-ups don't make for a great country. We have elected a moron supported by the most under informed group of suckers ever assembled in one place.
This is a nightmare.
63
Thomas Groome's Op-Ed is entitled "To Win Again, The Democrats Must Stop Being the Abortion Party."
I guess everyone has their opinion. Mine is that at this point, their defense of pro-choice and family planning programs nationally and internationally is about the only reason left to vote for them.
Some would say they should stop being the Illegal Alien Party. Others would say stop being the Military Keynseians and destroying neighborhoods and people's health and home values for basing budget-busting F-35 fighter jets (here's looking at you Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy). Others would say they should stop being the Do As I Say and Not As I Do Party (i.e., creating more unfunded mandates on public schools that force Hobbesian choices on local property taxpayers while enrolling their own children in private school, a la the Clintons, Obamas, Biden grandchildren, Merrick Garland, etc.). There are very few reasons to vote Democrat anymore. Hate to say it but having learned the hard way after naively voting Democrats for almost 20 years, Republicans, at least you get what you see.
I guess everyone has their opinion. Mine is that at this point, their defense of pro-choice and family planning programs nationally and internationally is about the only reason left to vote for them.
Some would say they should stop being the Illegal Alien Party. Others would say stop being the Military Keynseians and destroying neighborhoods and people's health and home values for basing budget-busting F-35 fighter jets (here's looking at you Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy). Others would say they should stop being the Do As I Say and Not As I Do Party (i.e., creating more unfunded mandates on public schools that force Hobbesian choices on local property taxpayers while enrolling their own children in private school, a la the Clintons, Obamas, Biden grandchildren, Merrick Garland, etc.). There are very few reasons to vote Democrat anymore. Hate to say it but having learned the hard way after naively voting Democrats for almost 20 years, Republicans, at least you get what you see.
3
The ignorance and stupidity of Republicans is killing us and will destroy the planet.
We do not need to spend $54 billion more on the military. That money should go to developing antibiotics to fight super bugs, which have the potential to create a pandemic the likes of which the world has never seen. (It could kill billions. )Read Bill Gates' Op-Ed.
Global warming isn't a matter of opinion. Evolution isn't debatable. God will not save us. Yet our country is run by people who don't accept these facts.
The United States can no longer be counted on to lead the world.
We do not need to spend $54 billion more on the military. That money should go to developing antibiotics to fight super bugs, which have the potential to create a pandemic the likes of which the world has never seen. (It could kill billions. )Read Bill Gates' Op-Ed.
Global warming isn't a matter of opinion. Evolution isn't debatable. God will not save us. Yet our country is run by people who don't accept these facts.
The United States can no longer be counted on to lead the world.
45
Forget, "science," how about basic arithmetic?
The idea of getting less in healthcare by giving more to the wealthy? Yea, sure, sounds like a good deal for me! Having said that, Obama a Hillary were not much better. They both supported NAFTA, never suspecting corporations would NOT want to add thirty percent to their bottom line by shipping jobs out of the country? They all raked in the corporate donations.
With the unions gone, no one with any power is for the working class, or for that matter, any of the middle class. No one.
The idea of getting less in healthcare by giving more to the wealthy? Yea, sure, sounds like a good deal for me! Having said that, Obama a Hillary were not much better. They both supported NAFTA, never suspecting corporations would NOT want to add thirty percent to their bottom line by shipping jobs out of the country? They all raked in the corporate donations.
With the unions gone, no one with any power is for the working class, or for that matter, any of the middle class. No one.
7
The devices that all Times comments are written and transmitted on were invented at government supported labs and universities: the internet (USA) and www (European members of CERN) are just two prominent examples. All instruments in all hospitals started out in a physics or chemistry lab. Shutting down pure science is stupid, plane and simple stupid.
Trump doesn't approve of much of anything other than border walls and a bloated military. He is probably an appropriate leader for the Stupid Party.
26
As usual, Trump talking out of both sides of his lying mouth.
Nothing would please Russia's Putin more, than for us to lose our preeminence in science.
Our demise, at the hands of this illegitimate ignoramus Trump ! will be just a matter of time if he is allowed to ruin America.
Trump places our nation at the whim of Putin, and this shows more and more as each outrage comes to pass.
Get rid of his regime before it is too late.
Nothing would please Russia's Putin more, than for us to lose our preeminence in science.
Our demise, at the hands of this illegitimate ignoramus Trump ! will be just a matter of time if he is allowed to ruin America.
Trump places our nation at the whim of Putin, and this shows more and more as each outrage comes to pass.
Get rid of his regime before it is too late.
You know those nukes Trump likes to talk about? I wonder if he knows how they were created? On a less horrific note how about that infrastructure he wants to fix? It takes engineering research and development. Or those new planes he wants? I guess all this comes out of thin air.
Cut STEM and philosophy, and America will be filled with dumb brutes who can be led astray by false prophets crying out "This is what the Lord wants." Is this what rich Republicans want?
30
All the more reason to head to Washington to March for Science on April 22nd. Medical research saved my daughter's life! I'm marching for the researchers that will save tomorrow's life! Come join us!!!
31
NIH funded scientific research has resulted in the greatest accumulation of biological knowledge in the history of the world. There is a reason English is the common language at International science conferences. I have attended some of these meetings as a spouse and I can tell you that these researchers have dedicated their lives to scientific advancement. We should all be as committed to our careers. Cut this funding and the innovation will leave our country and go elsewhere. China can't wait.
35
Honestly, the proposed Trump budget is all about controlling the people and dumbing down our future so we will kowtow to propaganda.
We are a NASA family and even though it appears we escaped a major cut, NASA has been cut to the bone for years. This newest cut is the most cruel: all education for kids and older students (no internships for college students), thereby cutting off our future scientists and engineers.
And then there's climate change. Monies are to be directed away from important Earth science programs to planetary science. This includes OCO3 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory) and CLARREO (Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory) which shortens the time to detect the magnitude of climate change.
Perhaps the Republicans think it is more important to suck as much value out of Earth before we are all forced to look for another planet to live on.
We are a NASA family and even though it appears we escaped a major cut, NASA has been cut to the bone for years. This newest cut is the most cruel: all education for kids and older students (no internships for college students), thereby cutting off our future scientists and engineers.
And then there's climate change. Monies are to be directed away from important Earth science programs to planetary science. This includes OCO3 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory) and CLARREO (Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory) which shortens the time to detect the magnitude of climate change.
Perhaps the Republicans think it is more important to suck as much value out of Earth before we are all forced to look for another planet to live on.
37
I love when the NYT undercuts their own arguments... with the authors and editors not even catching it. Notice in the graph "Already Short of Needs" about the NIH budgets that the graph puts its figures "in 2016 dollars". That means the dollar figures over the years are inflation adjusted and allow for actual apples to apples comparisons. Yes, from high peaks after rapid rises between 1998 and 2005 the funding has dropped, bur notice that virtually every one is still about 1998 values. That means we are spending more, in real dollars, on each of these items than we did 20 years ago. And note on each one that the most rapid decline continued between 2006-2008... When Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and were responsible for budget allocations.
2
Trump made a big deal of the money awarded to NASA through an Executive Order. Bah Humbug! He needed a headline grabber to divert from his lack of knowledge about either the ACA or the AHCA. In that Order, he neglected to mention that he already has previously ordered NASA to stop programs that were working on collecting and analyzing date to move us forward how we deal with Climate Change. This is a man, who is crippling the operation of our government, through a hunger for power and misplaced self-adulation. He doesn't read. He does not have a curious mind. I wonder if he has ever watched even Dr. Nye, the Science guy, despite his getting his information from TV. Shameful. This is a man who believes the debunked theory promoted by Andrew Wakefield, and embraced by the same sort of minds that swallowed Trump's campaign rhetoric, that vaccination causes autism.
We have been dumbing down as a nation, getting ever more intellectually lazy as facts are seldom investigated by the common citizen. To every person who voted for this man bloated with Narcissistic hot air and promoted lies, I hope you never face a challenge that science or knowledge could have solved.
We have been dumbing down as a nation, getting ever more intellectually lazy as facts are seldom investigated by the common citizen. To every person who voted for this man bloated with Narcissistic hot air and promoted lies, I hope you never face a challenge that science or knowledge could have solved.
16
Such stupidity in a US President should be criminal!!
So very short-sighted when one only thinks of "small government". The US will be small, alright. Small minded.
So very short-sighted when one only thinks of "small government". The US will be small, alright. Small minded.
12
This is deeper than just disdain for science. DJT seems to be allergic to anything that involves data in general.
His positions are based on gut feelings, who he spoke to last, what makes him money or what makes him looks best.
The defunding of science is merely collateral damage from his lack of interest in doing hard or worthwhile things.
Who knew science was so complicated? (And expensive)
Most presidents don't need this explained to them but DJT does.
So for now we will side step his incompetence and do all that we can to make sure that his budget is just a blip on the screen and not a sign of permanent cuts.
The 2018 midterms really started just after DJT inauguration. DJT's budget and performance since then bodes well for the progressive movement and Dems resuming their role as the governing party- including the WH!
His positions are based on gut feelings, who he spoke to last, what makes him money or what makes him looks best.
The defunding of science is merely collateral damage from his lack of interest in doing hard or worthwhile things.
Who knew science was so complicated? (And expensive)
Most presidents don't need this explained to them but DJT does.
So for now we will side step his incompetence and do all that we can to make sure that his budget is just a blip on the screen and not a sign of permanent cuts.
The 2018 midterms really started just after DJT inauguration. DJT's budget and performance since then bodes well for the progressive movement and Dems resuming their role as the governing party- including the WH!
31
America's place in the world - economically, politically, and militarily – depends in no small part on our scientific leadership. Support for scientific research therefore has traditionally had strong bipartisan support. No longer. Dropping budgets (adjusted for inflation) have plagued US science for 15 years, beginning before the sequestration but continuing through that. The Trump cuts will be disastrous. The National Science Foundation – which funds basic science, from astronomy to zoology – is proposed to be cut another 10%. This is madness that will cost us dearly as we lose a generation of scientists, and lose productivity from the current generation. Today, THREE different pharmaceutical firms EACH invest more in research than we as a nation do through NSF. Funding rates in many programs are barely 4% of the request. NSF's budget – which is a tiny $7B in a $4T national budget (0.18% of all expenditures) – should be tripled, not sliced further. At some point in the next few years, we will wake up to the fact that China is eating our lunch scientifically. Why not act now, before it is too late?
22
A reduction in funding for science. is totally appropriate since he also wishes to reduce our number of scientists, physicians and engineers by denying visas. Together with Mr. Trump's vigorous support of old-school manufacturing, these policies are sure to bring the U.S.A. solidly back as a leader ... of the 19th Century.
20
It's not just the War on Science; it's the war on every aspect of modern society that needs Federal Government Money and Federal Structure to implement and maintain. Democrats- right now, need to get out of their Congressional Dee Cee offices and begin to organize before the Mid Term elections.
Every proposed Trump Administration budget cut, and elimination needs to be front and center. These issues need to be made simple( so both Republican and Democratic voters can see the consequences ) and the argument strong and taken to each district where Republicans are up for reelection.
Will Congressional Democrats do this? I certainly hope so but have little faith. They simply do not know how to organize. The ONLY Democrat who did is now on a well-deserved hiatus from Politicking; Barack Obama.
Every proposed Trump Administration budget cut, and elimination needs to be front and center. These issues need to be made simple( so both Republican and Democratic voters can see the consequences ) and the argument strong and taken to each district where Republicans are up for reelection.
Will Congressional Democrats do this? I certainly hope so but have little faith. They simply do not know how to organize. The ONLY Democrat who did is now on a well-deserved hiatus from Politicking; Barack Obama.
5
This is a idiotic path toward economic suicide. We certainly should support basic research and certainly should use it to benefit the american people, rather than guaranteeing a private sector "cut" of any public innovation. We pay astronomical prices for drugs and for defense techonology, both of which benefit from public funding.
8
It all boils down to below average educational standards and the low brow attitude of a population that now greatly outnumbers those who are educated. Numbers matter. Ignorance rules.
19
Back in 2013, the overall support for research and development by the federal government was $142.2 B. Of that, more than half was allocated to the department of defense (http://www.proposalexponent.com/federalprofiles.html). In the case of defense R&D spending, it is my understanding that the taxpayer does not have access to results unless it is cleared for dissemination whereas funding provided by NIH has to be shared broadly. The public needs to know that they are not getting their money's worth when data isn't shared because it is only by the sharing of this data that others can leverage it's value with innovations that the original authors did not conceive of. Why we continue to favor defense R&D spending while cutting back on publicly accessible R&D (essentially, cutting off the nose to spite the face), mystifies me.
12
As a biomedical research scientist who has funding from NIH I want to make a special alert to my fellow scientists in the physical and environmental scientists. In fact our colleagues in these arenas have been woefully underfunded for years. I barely remember NIH paylines at 30%. Comments about making grant writers work harder is depressing to hear from my fellow citizens. Much of the blame for this budget, and for the GOP in Congress holding science hostage over the past decade, is because physicians and scientists are NOT involved in the political process. For far too long we have been too 'elite' to bother with the political arena. We have low visibility and we are often way too focused on trying to obtain funds to survive. Donald Trump did not become the POTUS by accident. In a society where machismo and money win out over everything else, who can blame rust belt voters, and rural southerners for not caring about research? They cannot feed their families, get a decent job, or ever get a sense of economic security that could let them retire in dignity? We need to start looking at ourselves and asking how many physician-scientists and scientists are running for House, Senate, or state legislatures or Governors? Science in the public interest in our responsibility. The painful lesson here is the GOP and Trump are not going to do our bidding for us because we don't make any immediate return on taxpayers' investment. The conversation has to change!
19
There is no "war" on science; there is simply someone in office manifesting the previously restrained will of the majority of Americans. 50% of Americans are functionally illiterate; that is, they can't read the NYT. According to the Bilerico Report (no wild leap there), "45% of college graduates and 49% of white college graduates picked the candidate who is least experienced and capable of running the American government." If what I just wrote is true, how on earth can ANYONE be surprised at research cuts?
The NYT, scientists, and countless well-intended others keep wanting to be the shepherd leading the flock. The only place the uneducated need to be led is out of the darkness into the light. Do that, and you wont' have to worry about research cuts or climate change or anything else.
Bottom line: The United States does not believe in universal education, health care, or anything else that requires sustained cooperation: We're too individualistic. Now that that's undeniably apparent; let's see how the world reacts, shall we?
The NYT, scientists, and countless well-intended others keep wanting to be the shepherd leading the flock. The only place the uneducated need to be led is out of the darkness into the light. Do that, and you wont' have to worry about research cuts or climate change or anything else.
Bottom line: The United States does not believe in universal education, health care, or anything else that requires sustained cooperation: We're too individualistic. Now that that's undeniably apparent; let's see how the world reacts, shall we?
12
This is what happens when we elect a fool for a president. Plain and simple.
8
When 2+2 no longer = 4, but a tax cut as a solution to solve all problems, ( perceived or real ) then we are all in trouble.
Who will left to be able to do long division, when the power goes out ?
Who will left to be able to do long division, when the power goes out ?
9
What mystifies me is how Robert Mercer, a scientist who made his fortune off science (as opposed to his daughter Rebekah, who spends a lot of that fortune on hare-brained causes and "hair-brained" politicians like Trump) could back a science-denying president? Along with an alt-right fake news service headed by a science-denying Bannon?
Until you start actively reporting on the impact of Dark Money and weirdos such as the Mercers and Koch Brothers, you will never be accurately describing the battle we have.
This is another victim of Citizen's United - where this Dark Money has given people such as Rebekah Mercer a seat INSIDE the White House where she demanded Bannon and Conway be part of the team if Trump wanted her money. Additionally, the Mercers have hooked their star and money on a nonpublished, nonpeer reviewed "scientist" Arthur Robinson who believes nuclear war is good for the human body, global warming is a scam and he's collected thousands of bottles of urine to study longevity. The Mercers are the only ones giving free publicity to his wacko ideas.
You must get deep into the Dark Money - keep their names in a front page column exposing them for who they are - crazy people with too much money and time who are warping truth and sending us, no accelerating us back to the Dark Ages with their Dark Money.
This is another victim of Citizen's United - where this Dark Money has given people such as Rebekah Mercer a seat INSIDE the White House where she demanded Bannon and Conway be part of the team if Trump wanted her money. Additionally, the Mercers have hooked their star and money on a nonpublished, nonpeer reviewed "scientist" Arthur Robinson who believes nuclear war is good for the human body, global warming is a scam and he's collected thousands of bottles of urine to study longevity. The Mercers are the only ones giving free publicity to his wacko ideas.
You must get deep into the Dark Money - keep their names in a front page column exposing them for who they are - crazy people with too much money and time who are warping truth and sending us, no accelerating us back to the Dark Ages with their Dark Money.
the last graf is misleading, cause we can produce new scientists easily, but we can't expand the budget easily: true Malthusian economics at work
this issue comes up every 20 years or so; the times shd be ashamed of reducing a complex issue to a simple talking point
this issue comes up every 20 years or so; the times shd be ashamed of reducing a complex issue to a simple talking point
2
Really all of this is about the nihilism of the Republican Party and conservative thought in general. For them, this money is being wasted and should properly be spent on creating more killing machines to be deployed around the world by our military. I think it is abundantly clear that the majority of the states in our union, and the Republicans they elect, feel that the only purpose of the federal government is the defense of our country even as it crumbles until there is nothing left to defend.
7
A war on science? We can deal with that; a little dark age, quite a lot of grief, misery and poverty. A pandemic, a ruined economy, whatever. The war we should be afraid of is the war on children. It takes at least one generation to create contributors from children. Right now, if parents can't, in good conscience or even small-mindedness, encourage kids to embrace science as a career, America (in stunning loneliness) will have no resources twenty years from now.
No prospects in science -- by which we include technology, medicine and agriculture -- means no science for a very long time. Long after the name Trump has peeled off the casinos and hotels. Long after the public is unable to read a graph, work in any industry that remains, or even have the slightest interest in the world we inhabit.
The war on reality, on fact, on knowledge, on progress is bad enough; the war on the children is insane.
No prospects in science -- by which we include technology, medicine and agriculture -- means no science for a very long time. Long after the name Trump has peeled off the casinos and hotels. Long after the public is unable to read a graph, work in any industry that remains, or even have the slightest interest in the world we inhabit.
The war on reality, on fact, on knowledge, on progress is bad enough; the war on the children is insane.
11
Trump is clearly fighting a war against America and Americans. Science is but one of his targets. Putin must be laughing his read-end off and crowing. Trump is pushing us backwards. Thanks to Trump we're going to be a third rate nation.
8
As money from the NIH dries up, industry may fund more research, which opens up major conflict of interest issues. Cutting NIH research grants means we will slow down or stop progress towards treating and curing cancer, heart disease and diabetes. So not only is our access to health care being further reduced by the Republicans, progress for better and more effective treatments will be slowed or stopped. As a cancer survivor this makes me livid.
3
What war on science? That is basically impossible. How about we try to bring back the era of Bell Labs where the private sector made many improvements and did science better than the government could ever do.
I read Breitbart to get a sense of what the other side is thinking about science (I'm a scientist). Their argument against the existence of global warming is along the lines of "oh yeah? Then how come it was so cold this winter?" This is the level of understanding we're dealing with here.
9
All empires wax and wane, and it seems it's America's time to have Caligula or Nero at the top of our executive branch. Make America great again? When it comes to science, it's time to make America second-rate again, and when it comes to our social discourse it's time to make America hate again.
6
Great and timely editorial. I hope the White House reads it. It seems to me that the Budget Blueprint preparers at OMB were not informed on what is going on or not going on in the research and development organizations in the Federal government. I would suggest a commission review the research programs that are ongoing and also make a serious effort to define national priorities for research. Clearly, we must lift the veil of ignorance that has been pulled over the science community.
Science research will not fund itself, it never has and never will but research in the US has produced enormous benefits in all areas of the economy and human health. My personal priority is the health of the planet and the potential catastrophic outcomes, if we fail to continue to monitor and try different technology solutions to global warming. History, tells us that new technologies for transportation and electric power generation can have enormous benefits and be the foundation for a new economic index of growth and improvement in productivity that would very much improve our quality of living.
For example, we know that we can electrify our interstate highway logistics infrastructure by installing guideways along the government owned right-of-ways, as suggested by the late Senator Moynihan's Committee for a very energy efficient, 300 mph, overnight shipping of interstate trucks. www.magneticglide.com. This concept will benefit truckers and consumers, safety, & save wear and tear.
Science research will not fund itself, it never has and never will but research in the US has produced enormous benefits in all areas of the economy and human health. My personal priority is the health of the planet and the potential catastrophic outcomes, if we fail to continue to monitor and try different technology solutions to global warming. History, tells us that new technologies for transportation and electric power generation can have enormous benefits and be the foundation for a new economic index of growth and improvement in productivity that would very much improve our quality of living.
For example, we know that we can electrify our interstate highway logistics infrastructure by installing guideways along the government owned right-of-ways, as suggested by the late Senator Moynihan's Committee for a very energy efficient, 300 mph, overnight shipping of interstate trucks. www.magneticglide.com. This concept will benefit truckers and consumers, safety, & save wear and tear.
2
I am completely baffled why ANYONE having a modicum of intelligence and education would support this regime's agenda. Ignore the overwhelming evidence for man-made climate change and the opportunity to be the world leaders in renewable clean energy, but "bring back dirty coal" (there no such thing as "clean" coal) and further pad the pockets of the fossil fuel industry. Ignore the opportunity to be the world leaders in biomedical research, and on top of that cut support for health care (not to mention social support services like early childhood education and meals on wheels) for those who need it most. Those Republicans who loudly announce their "Christian" values and who claim to be "pro-life" but who turn away from supporting the neediest in our society once they are born are stunningly un-Christ-like in their behaviour. Unbelievable and very, very sad.
12
There is a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in science research. No one seems to have the stomach to address these issues. If you report fraud, you end your career. We all pay for fraud through our tax dollars and lack of progress in finding cures.
1
How does someone who says so easily --
"It's great!", "It's the best!" -- not want at least heavy if not the heaviest investment in science???
If you don't have a standard for 'great' or 'best', what comes out of your mouth is mere assertion.
"It's great!", "It's the best!" -- not want at least heavy if not the heaviest investment in science???
If you don't have a standard for 'great' or 'best', what comes out of your mouth is mere assertion.
1
Should you expect any difference from the GOP, that is dominated by people who have hagiorized the likes of the 'profit motive' ie 'greed is good', while totally ignoring that business operates in a mode of ROI, Dupont formulas and the like and doesn't think much beyond the next quarter? Too, ask the people who routinely vote republican, and you likely if you ask them who invented the internet (after making jokes about Al Gore) they will tell you ATT or IBM, who invented the computer "IBM", who invented the integrated circuit "Intel,Motorola, Texas Instruments", who invented the laser "some japanese company", and so forth. Boobus Americanus and the GOP believes in the Ayn Rand model where businessmen are gods, infinitely wise.
More importantly, the GOP is the party of people with Southern and Midwestern draws who see science as the enemy of their "long held beliefs", when you have a party where significant percentages think Evolution is a guess, that the earth was made 6000 years ago in 6 days and the Bible is literal truth, you think they want to see science flourish?
More importantly, the GOP is the party of people with Southern and Midwestern draws who see science as the enemy of their "long held beliefs", when you have a party where significant percentages think Evolution is a guess, that the earth was made 6000 years ago in 6 days and the Bible is literal truth, you think they want to see science flourish?
3
Precisely because we have public health crises (opioids, obesity, diabetes, cancer) and environmental threats, we need the U.S. government to provide global leadership for the benefit of all. We should be shooting for the stars, not pulling the rug. With small minds in charge, there is a leadership vacuum and a crushing lack of vision.
5
I'm in medical research, in my case Alzheimer's Disease (AD) research, & if funds for this end up being cut, it would be a tragedy. With people living longer & the baby-boomers moving into the AD vulnerable age range, we're going to have an AD epidemic unless we find effective treatments soon. As it is, competition for research funds is intense & much time & work goes into just applying for grants which are then often not funded, leaving much good proposed research never conducted.
I realize there are arguments for & against government funding of medical research as for anything else, but many conservatives agree that tax payer investment in medical research is a good investment (See e.g., NY Times, April 22, 2015: “Newt Gingrich: Double the N.I.H. Budget”).
I'm also, BTW, an old anti-war activist & at times like this I am especially reminded of the trillion tax dollars lost in the unnecessary war in Iraq -- a trillion dollars. With money like that, we could cure AD soon just by brute force of trying every possible safe treatment. How many lives will now be unnecessarily lost at home to pay the war debt for unnecessarily taking lives overseas in pointless & counter-productive war? And the war profiteers are ready to drum up “patriotic fervor” to start another one, all of which is enthusiastically promoted by the self-proclaimed "Pro Life" Party.
I hope President Trump & the Congress realizes that they are vulnerable to AD too. President Reagan died of it.
I realize there are arguments for & against government funding of medical research as for anything else, but many conservatives agree that tax payer investment in medical research is a good investment (See e.g., NY Times, April 22, 2015: “Newt Gingrich: Double the N.I.H. Budget”).
I'm also, BTW, an old anti-war activist & at times like this I am especially reminded of the trillion tax dollars lost in the unnecessary war in Iraq -- a trillion dollars. With money like that, we could cure AD soon just by brute force of trying every possible safe treatment. How many lives will now be unnecessarily lost at home to pay the war debt for unnecessarily taking lives overseas in pointless & counter-productive war? And the war profiteers are ready to drum up “patriotic fervor” to start another one, all of which is enthusiastically promoted by the self-proclaimed "Pro Life" Party.
I hope President Trump & the Congress realizes that they are vulnerable to AD too. President Reagan died of it.
7
While Trump promotes his golf clubs and hits the links yet again...Tennis anyone?...China's leaders are taking note ,..all the while pouring money into research and science in solar energy, battery storage,.biotech,..electric car engineering etc...Could we possibly have picked a worse person to lead at such a critical time? ..it's Like Abe Lincoln in reverse.
117
China is making massive investments in infrastructure (for example, China plans to invest more than $636 billion through 2020 in programs to protect and enhance human water supplies and ecological protection), technology (moving from low technology assembly to high technology manufacturing, biomedical engineering, and information technology. There is heavy government investment. If the United States government does not keep investing in basic and higher level science (including graduate student position grants), we will be left in the dust. If Trump's administration wants to keep America "great", it must budget for scientific investment and support.
17
I am a retired scientist with over 330 scientific publications and most of my research was sponsored by the Federal government which resulted in two start-up companies and 14 US and international patents. Trump's science budget is eating the "seed corn" for our nation's future!
19
While Trump and his cabinet of crooks are doing everything they can to self-destruct the U.S., China is steadily making inroads in building good political goodwill on global stage.
Come to think of it, Trump is not only on Russia's employ, but China's as well.
Come to think of it, Trump is not only on Russia's employ, but China's as well.
11
The "Already Short of Needs" graph does not even mention one of the most critical health research needs, which is to develop vaccines and alternatives to antibiotics that no longer work. Otherwise, a global pandemic, at some point, is almost certain to eventually wipe out millions of people in the space of a single year. One of the more promising research areas is the use of viruses to kill off harmful bacteria, or at least to cancel their resistance to antibiotics, since the bacteria are less able to develop resistance to the viruses themselves.
In any case, the entire area of infectious disease is woefully underfunded because drug companies are loathe to do basic research on drugs that have a limited payback: once the pandemic is eliminated, the demand for the drug is gone (along, of course, with the patients who may have been killed without it).
In any case, the entire area of infectious disease is woefully underfunded because drug companies are loathe to do basic research on drugs that have a limited payback: once the pandemic is eliminated, the demand for the drug is gone (along, of course, with the patients who may have been killed without it).
8
With computers, scientists can collaborate globally, speeding progress. With DNA technology and CRISPR, we have the tools to make great discoveries and cure mankind's diseases. With satellites and GPS, field work is revolutionized. With these and other scientific advances, we get more bang for the buck than ever before. Now IS the time to fund scientific research.
14
Also notice how Education Secretary DeVos's advocacy of vouchers will move taxpayer funds not only to private schools that teach creationism as a theory equal to the theory of evolution, but even to private schools that teach that "young earth" creationism (the belief that humanity has existed on earth from less than 10,000 years) is the only creation-related "truth." We cannot sustain or advance evidence-based science if a portion of tax funds support "Biblical world view" dogma.
16
Some people say that the space race was a waste of money. But if you look at the jobs created, the investment in education, the technology that made its way into the public sphere the space race more than paid for itself. The same thing happened with investment in infrastructure and the Manhattan project.
We need to stop focusing on an unwinnable war and start investing in ourselves again. If we chose climate change as the next big American project we could literally change the world.
We need to stop focusing on an unwinnable war and start investing in ourselves again. If we chose climate change as the next big American project we could literally change the world.
24
We've been here before...I am a scientist and a proud member of the Sputnik generation. I got my PhD in chemistry in 1981 studying fundamentals of solar energy. Our group's research was largely funded by the Solar Energy Research Institute, a program of the newly formed Dept of Energy under the Carter administration. With the election of Reagan in 1980, research funds were slashed (remember that Reagan wanted to shutdown the DOE), and all of that solar research ended without support. I often imagine where we might be with alternative energy if government support for this and other research had continued to be supported.
20
In many cases, the money for research on cancer, heart disease, mental health, etc, is taken from our national budget and put in the pockets of the 1 percent. It's a direct transfer of money from scientific research that benefits us all to the bank accounts of the rich. This is also what Trumpcare proposed to do, and it is, no doubt, what the upcoming Republican "tax reform" proposals will do. How any American sees a benefit in taking money from us all and giving it to the rich is beyond me.
8
I've been thinking lately that perhaps scientists need to start making it clear that their work has clear national security implications. I'd guess that Russia still has freezers full of nasty bioweapons, not to mention China, which is intensely funding medical research with far fewer restrictions than we have here. NIH funding allows our country to have experts on virtually every biomedical topic at universities around the country. Who does Trump think we're going to turn to when the next plague strikes?
14
I am an owner of a small business receiving NIH and NSF funds. First of all, as a grantee I want to dispel the lie that institutions like NIH and NSF are "bloated". Simply put, most of the budgets for these institutions goes directly to university and small business research. The funding rates for such grants is actually *below* 10% (6% for academic NIH R01 projects), so many quality projects are rejected, and it's hard to imagine how any "bloat" could happen under such a competitive situation. Second, NIH and NSF really act like "seed funds" for the nation's innovation. Venture capital likes to come in quite a bit later. Therefore, innovation grants are critical for generating tomorrow's economy. The proceeds and benefits go to red states and blue states alike. My grants are spent primarily on creating good jobs, purchasing materials from all around the country, and taxes. It's a virtuous cycle that stimulates the economy in myriad ways.
20
Mr. Thiel says: "They know the government wasn’t always this broken."
But it isn't broken now and won't be, unless this new administration, and Stephen Bannon in particular, is successful in its quest to break it or, in Bannon's words, "dismantle it".
But it isn't broken now and won't be, unless this new administration, and Stephen Bannon in particular, is successful in its quest to break it or, in Bannon's words, "dismantle it".
12
the point Trump makes--put money behind "dreams". Dreams do not require facts or science, or reality of any kind. He became president of the US with no facts, no success, no ethics, no morals, no principles, no ideology. That's what he wants for and from all of us.
13
To the commmentators who have no idea how the funding process works or if the low wages paid to people with decades of education. Researcher with 20 years experience at top universities earns$50,000-$70,000 a year. Grant applicants receive little salary - perhaps 1-2 months salary because faculty do not receive summer pay. Graduate students may be funded but but again this represents a fraction of the grant. Many researchers do not get benefits - there is a reason scoetusts are not fashionable dressed, drive old cars, live a simple life despite working 70 hour week. They can't afford it. No one gets rich except the society whose lives they improve. You should talk about performance pay for politicians. You have no trouble with Trump spending millions of tax payer money each weekend to play golf, of congress to work a few months of the year, to receive handouts from lobbyists. So the next time a family member is diagnosed with a deadly disease, you need drugs for an illness, your water is contaminated, you are poisoned by chemicals in the environment- remember the scientists you refused to fund.
16
Trump is ready to lead the Way back to the Dark Ages.
Somebody should remind him, that it was the Arabs who hung onto Greek wisdom and science, Aristotle and advanced mathematics, while the West turned to feudalism and ignorance, allowed plagues and clung to a view of the solar system, which could have been called "Earth First."
Somebody should remind him, that it was the Arabs who hung onto Greek wisdom and science, Aristotle and advanced mathematics, while the West turned to feudalism and ignorance, allowed plagues and clung to a view of the solar system, which could have been called "Earth First."
10
The absence of respect for and support of the sciences is socially distressing and could prove distinctly harmful in time.
12
Primary research requires far me the than it does money.
We have long been financing "science" that has given little return or scientific understanding. We have also finance research projects for which the only purpose is to give the receiving scientist(d) a salary for the next year or two.
Trump's budget cuts will force the grant writers to do a better job of defining the rationale(s) for their receiving the taxpayers' largess.
We have long been financing "science" that has given little return or scientific understanding. We have also finance research projects for which the only purpose is to give the receiving scientist(d) a salary for the next year or two.
Trump's budget cuts will force the grant writers to do a better job of defining the rationale(s) for their receiving the taxpayers' largess.
3
Owl - too bad you lack the wisdom of your namesake. You owe the standard of living you enjoy today, and maybe your very life, to government research and exploration, going back centuries.
30
Alternatively stated: "We need to be more short-sighted."
9
Investment in science is what made "America great" in the 20th century. Unfortunately, the American public is like a pig, which unable to look up because of its thick neck, eats the roots of the oak tree, while complaining that the tasty acorns are gone.
Sorry, but the "return" on scientific research would not fit into 1500 words limit here. The saddest part is the waste of young talent that is turned away from the most productive endeavor the society could ever support.
Enjoy the root salad.
Sorry, but the "return" on scientific research would not fit into 1500 words limit here. The saddest part is the waste of young talent that is turned away from the most productive endeavor the society could ever support.
Enjoy the root salad.
14
Will be interesting to see how this plays out with our lab research (mostly funded by the NIH) and if this is the beginning of the end. For the NYT editorial board you barely scrapped the surface of various groups conducting research in the bio medical world. Maybe take a look further into some of the great research that is being done.
16
The problem with science is that it's true, often with enormous consequences, whether the government funds it or not. I expect that both sides of the isle know this and will put the government in the driver's seat.
This should not be a surprise to anyone who has watched the no nothing, ignorance glorifying , fact free universe of the republican party over the past 10 years. These clowns are no different that the robber barons that Roosevelt went after in the early 1900's. At least he had personal courage.
41
It is difficult for people so woefully ignorant of science to understand how innovation occurs. Our Congress and too many of our citizens don't understand the most basic scientific concepts that are widely understood by citizens in other developed countries. To make matters worse, our country has a strong bias toward business that is disconnected with reality.
Americans believe our success over the past 5 decades is related to shrewd businessman. It is clear that business simply takes advantage of opportunity and is generally more about luck and timing than brilliance. The "scientific breakthroughs" largely happened because of government sponsored research dating back to World War II through NASA and early space exploration. Business mined the technology to modify it and do more, but it was the basic research that made that possible.
Today we have no political will or organization in our research. Too many dollars are spent for political purposes and real dollars have declined in the wake of competitor countries spending more. Trump's budget (and the Republicans approach for 25 years) is quickly making us a follower in technology. Americans will only wake up when the next couple major innovations are produced in Europe or Asia and we are already far in their rearview mirror.
Americans believe our success over the past 5 decades is related to shrewd businessman. It is clear that business simply takes advantage of opportunity and is generally more about luck and timing than brilliance. The "scientific breakthroughs" largely happened because of government sponsored research dating back to World War II through NASA and early space exploration. Business mined the technology to modify it and do more, but it was the basic research that made that possible.
Today we have no political will or organization in our research. Too many dollars are spent for political purposes and real dollars have declined in the wake of competitor countries spending more. Trump's budget (and the Republicans approach for 25 years) is quickly making us a follower in technology. Americans will only wake up when the next couple major innovations are produced in Europe or Asia and we are already far in their rearview mirror.
38
In other words, Peter Thiel still wants government handouts that benefit him, but wants to cut government spending that helps regular people. While I agree with his assessment that the government should fund scientific research, I can't condone his hypocrisy.
29
That was precisely my point too.
Definition of a conservative. If it helps me, we should do it, if not, nope.
Definition of a conservative. If it helps me, we should do it, if not, nope.
2
Regardless of the arguments for or against a budget for science it seems idiotic to make budgetary decisions based on Trumps assertion that climate change is a hoax and whining that the regulations that come out of the science are killing jobs over a real scientist. It seems even more idiotic to not acknowledge the fact that whatever is happening to our earth is not good. If I have to choose I choose the scientists.
The cuts to the DOE Office of Science have not received as much attention as those to NIH, but they are just as crippling. Many of the advances in medical science over the past decade have been made possible because of tools provided by advances in the physical sciences. We need more science across the board, not less. Our economy and well-being depend on it.
28
What do you expect from a country where "synthetic oil" is made out of petroleum?
1
Is any thinking person truly surprised that a world-class ignoramus and narcissist is dismissive of scientific inquiry?
I apologize to his supporters in my use of polysyllabic words.
I apologize to his supporters in my use of polysyllabic words.
38
I'll translate the last sentence for you: "I sorry I use big words". No need to translate the rest, as they still wouldn't understand it. Most think "edukashun is evil".
1
Is America to be a country of war mongers , or a country that investments in science to find alternatives ways to get along with each other? Science stimulates innovations and news idea; war stimulates fear, anguish, and retaliation. Invest in science, not the military.
31
45 and the republicans are all TALK. Their actions, votes are against all decency in preserving our individual rights, education, healthcare and our environment. They hide their greedy power controlling philosophy behind simplistic emotional "talking points". Our nation is victimized by their propaganda.
19
This is what happens when the people elect President someone like Trump. Well, the US is facing a slide into the Dark Ages, denial of Reason, and a temporary rise of superstition and theocracy.
20
I think the rise of superstition and theocracy is not temporary, as you hopefully state. As the formerly solid wall between church and state deteriorates, more power will accrue to the christian sharia law. As we take no action to insure more fair voting power goes to the populous and economy-driving states, the uneducated christian masses will shape our policies. This does not end well.
1
The many disciplines of science provide paths to the truth. The paths differ but all lead to a coherent foundation.
An administration founded on lies and deception could not possibly support science or generate policies that that rest upon the truth.
An administration founded on lies and deception could not possibly support science or generate policies that that rest upon the truth.
23
There are no scientists in the Executive Branch mis-leadership. They are all either real estate or political brokers who have no appreciation of science except that they don't trust it. Scientists do not think of today and tomorrow only; they think in years and decades, for that is what it takes, plus brilliant thinking, to get valid and innovative results.
24
Hold your breath and repeat after me: this is a fake budget. Indeed it's not even a budget but a fake budget outline. It's written as a sop for Trump's core supporters, with knowledge that it's not going anywhere.
4
Trump's proposed cuts, government-wide, in science programs are heinous. Because he doesn't understand the role scientific research plays in our daily lives, he thinks these programs are irrelevant to our nation's overall well-being and competitiveness.
Conversely, because Trump believes that 'might makes right', he has proposed adding an additional $54 billion to the defense budget, bringing defense-related expenditures to $603 billion. Ironically, a 2015 study by the Defense Business Board (https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/investigations/defense-busin... catalogued how the DoD could save $125 Billion over 5 years. The report notes these savings (4-8% per year) are achievable through good fiscal management and by reducing outsourcing. If Trump really wants to inflate defense spending, then he should implement the cost-saving measures set out in the Defense Business Board's report.
As the Editorial Board makes clear, “Some research cuts, particularly to the N.I.H., aren’t likely to make it past Congress." These research cuts illustrate Trump’s devaluing science’s role in national and domestic security, protecting environmental resources, preventing disease and lowering the cost of health care.
All Americans get incredible value from government science programs. It is clear, however, Trump has a misplaced sense of priorities for where government spending benefits America.
Conversely, because Trump believes that 'might makes right', he has proposed adding an additional $54 billion to the defense budget, bringing defense-related expenditures to $603 billion. Ironically, a 2015 study by the Defense Business Board (https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/investigations/defense-busin... catalogued how the DoD could save $125 Billion over 5 years. The report notes these savings (4-8% per year) are achievable through good fiscal management and by reducing outsourcing. If Trump really wants to inflate defense spending, then he should implement the cost-saving measures set out in the Defense Business Board's report.
As the Editorial Board makes clear, “Some research cuts, particularly to the N.I.H., aren’t likely to make it past Congress." These research cuts illustrate Trump’s devaluing science’s role in national and domestic security, protecting environmental resources, preventing disease and lowering the cost of health care.
All Americans get incredible value from government science programs. It is clear, however, Trump has a misplaced sense of priorities for where government spending benefits America.
19
As always, the dictum "Follow the money" is the best guidance. Scientists and science organizations are not big donors to politicians, and are therefore of no consequence. It's even worse that their activities actually represent an expense to government in the short term (the only term that matters in politics). On the other hand, one might predict that there are certain lobbies, especially the pharmaceutical industry, that should actively oppose cuts to budgets such as NIH, since their pipeline of new drugs is absolutely dependent on government- financed basic research at universities. But again, this is something that plays out over a long term, so their response will be especially interesting to watch.
93
The value of basic research was demonstrated in the hay day of Bell Labs, Xerox Parc, IBM's TJ Watson Research Center and others. These industrial labs provided most of the ideas generated in the mid-20th century. They disappeared as their funding companies decided they were paying for a public service, not for profits.
Trump is running government with a corporate mindset - short-term, bottom-line, people-as-robots mentality. Why pay for research that just introduces change and ferment that upsets his backers' joke-de-vivre?
Trump is running government with a corporate mindset - short-term, bottom-line, people-as-robots mentality. Why pay for research that just introduces change and ferment that upsets his backers' joke-de-vivre?
81
I can't fathom the thinking, or lack thereof, of those who reject science. Steam engines, telephones, humans flying on heavier than air planes, the end of deaths from pernicious anemia, and the extraction of energy from coal are all examples of so many more things that just wouldn't exist without science and scientists. Everyone ought to be able to see this simple truth, god-fearing or atheist. Real science is obviously real, accept it or not. Belief in any of the world's many religions is a matter of faith. It is fine for people to acknowledge their beliefs in faith, but it is somewhere between unrealistic and suicidal to deny real science. Those people who practice fake science are just as harmful to all of us as those who publish fake news.
1
We are the world's greatest innovators having more scientists and researchers who has given us the life-saving electric bulb to the internet, from vaccines and drugs and first in engineering, witness our massive infrastructure and space triumphs. And all along the way Government enabled this scientific research with funds that were more than the greatest philanthropy ( bless their hearts! ). The Republican and Trump's aversion to Science simply cannot be understood. They may be lawyers, financiers or real estate moguls, not scientists but they make the same use of electric bulbs, the same road and bridges and tweeting away into the wee hours in the morning. They breathe the fresh air drink clean water and use the lowly toilet ( some gold! ) just like everyone else on the Planet all courtesy to Science. But yet they want to cut funding for Science which are now into saving the Planet thanks to us plundering everything on it. Strange they would support Science which is only destructive like WMD. I wonder what Trump's alma -mater, Wharton, thinks about their famous graduate now?
P.S. I do know Wharton is ivy league for finance!!
P.S. I do know Wharton is ivy league for finance!!
2
Trump may have made lofty promises, as he did with with healthcare ("We're going to have insurance for everybody") but it is foolish to believe in anything he says, given his track record.
Remember, in addition to promoting the disaster of a healthcare bill that'd have cost millions their health insurance, Trump is someone who put Rick Perry, a man with a Bachelor of Science in animal science, in charge of the Energy Department, which, among other things, deals with Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology. Can you imagine Rick Perry being involved in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, as Ernest Moniz, his predecessor, was?
Remember, in addition to promoting the disaster of a healthcare bill that'd have cost millions their health insurance, Trump is someone who put Rick Perry, a man with a Bachelor of Science in animal science, in charge of the Energy Department, which, among other things, deals with Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology. Can you imagine Rick Perry being involved in negotiating the Iran nuclear deal, as Ernest Moniz, his predecessor, was?
4
Trump hates a scientist - since they are obviously much smarter than he is and can not be conned as easily by him. It is an irony that Russia may be #1 in fake news and propaganda while America is now likely a close #2 under Trump, though Putin likely believes in science and its power.
Perhaps the Trumplicans do like science to the extent that only corporations will be the only ones who can afford to do science - for profit. Any scientific breakthrough will be immediately patented; any scientific discovery they don't like (aka Climate Change) is buried; any government tax paid for scientific research will be turned over to the profiteers - like Thiel and big pharma - for their exclusive financial benefit leaving tax payers with the bill at both ends.
The political fossils on the right relate all too well to the fossil fuel build up over billions of years and want to dig and drill up to contaminate the Earth in as short a time as possible - in less than a millionth of the time frame it took to cook up.
We now have incontrovertible proof that government does not work when it is under Republican control - especially when under 100% control by them. Like with the DOE, they are so incompetently naive they don't realize the USGS is foundational for finding new places for them to drill baby drill. If only we could rebury these fossils or sweep them off the edge of the Earth in 2018 and 2020 elections.
I believe climate change is happening - Trump Change? That will never happen.
Perhaps the Trumplicans do like science to the extent that only corporations will be the only ones who can afford to do science - for profit. Any scientific breakthrough will be immediately patented; any scientific discovery they don't like (aka Climate Change) is buried; any government tax paid for scientific research will be turned over to the profiteers - like Thiel and big pharma - for their exclusive financial benefit leaving tax payers with the bill at both ends.
The political fossils on the right relate all too well to the fossil fuel build up over billions of years and want to dig and drill up to contaminate the Earth in as short a time as possible - in less than a millionth of the time frame it took to cook up.
We now have incontrovertible proof that government does not work when it is under Republican control - especially when under 100% control by them. Like with the DOE, they are so incompetently naive they don't realize the USGS is foundational for finding new places for them to drill baby drill. If only we could rebury these fossils or sweep them off the edge of the Earth in 2018 and 2020 elections.
I believe climate change is happening - Trump Change? That will never happen.
2
Trump's budget cuts to science and research are short sided and will greatly harm the country's future. The Department of Energy has the big science government labs. These projects are forward looking and are the type that require scientists and engineers working together, sometimes with academics or industry. The Internet would never have happened without DARPA money. Engineers are working on supercomputing now and advanced technologies including next generation computers, machine learning, brain projects, and others. China is rising and is pouring money into these areas.
We cannot be left in the 19th century with coal technology, when fossil fuels are limiting the future not just of the planet but of all kinds of other activities. Transportation projects are one area we are being left behind with, and are turning into third world aspects. Already some of the major advances in physics and chemistry are happening in other countries that support their scientists.
The NIH and CDC are critical to discovering new cures and understanding diseases, some of which will be mutated and new ones.
The Paleolithic approach to energy is also a metaphor for the other fossilized approaches that deny America's leadership role in the sciences, medicine, and technology.
Shame on Trump and the Republican Party for this betrayal of America.
We cannot be left in the 19th century with coal technology, when fossil fuels are limiting the future not just of the planet but of all kinds of other activities. Transportation projects are one area we are being left behind with, and are turning into third world aspects. Already some of the major advances in physics and chemistry are happening in other countries that support their scientists.
The NIH and CDC are critical to discovering new cures and understanding diseases, some of which will be mutated and new ones.
The Paleolithic approach to energy is also a metaphor for the other fossilized approaches that deny America's leadership role in the sciences, medicine, and technology.
Shame on Trump and the Republican Party for this betrayal of America.
5
All you have to do is look at the persons chosen for the CDC, EPA, USDA and any important department relating to sciences in our government by our current administration. These organizations designed to develop and facilitate our progress and very survival, have been loaded with science deniers, hacks, including ignorant and unqualified leadership tied to lobbyists who's only interest is freedom to do what they will without government oversight. The destruction of knowledge and development of anything that would help anyone outside of those special interests and get in the way of them is systematically being dismantled and removed. These actions and appointments are all designed for the profit and control of resources and the people who can profit from them. We need to vote and save ourselves from this destruction.
6
The private sector is good at the development side of R&D.
The public sector is good at the research side of R&D.
Perhaps the economy is growing slowly since the Federal research budgets
have been shrinking over the last 30 years.
The public sector is good at the research side of R&D.
Perhaps the economy is growing slowly since the Federal research budgets
have been shrinking over the last 30 years.
5
A $250 million annual grant program administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “supporting coastal and marine management, research and education” would be killed,
We've already done that to the Great Barrier Reef, and it didn't cost a penny.
Science was responsible for many of the devices that enabled the mechanisms that caused that carnage to exist in the first place. Definitely we should spend more to make more, it's only logical.
We've already done that to the Great Barrier Reef, and it didn't cost a penny.
Science was responsible for many of the devices that enabled the mechanisms that caused that carnage to exist in the first place. Definitely we should spend more to make more, it's only logical.
What the Times does not understand is that people are tired of the waste and abuse of our dollars. Government cannot doled out funds fairly. The Times may have bought in to the Global Warming frenzy but many people do not. They are this as a way for government to steal tax dollars and spend on an unproven ideology. Same with renewable energy.
Given the opportunity the free market will prevail. Most of the useful tools we use today are not the result of government but free enterprise. And at less cost.
Government is wasteful and does not always have our best interest in mind. Business just wants to make good, quality product at costborn ands we can afford do we will purchase them. They are not after votes.
Given the opportunity the free market will prevail. Most of the useful tools we use today are not the result of government but free enterprise. And at less cost.
Government is wasteful and does not always have our best interest in mind. Business just wants to make good, quality product at costborn ands we can afford do we will purchase them. They are not after votes.
Science today doesn't have the cachet that it once did among most Americans. When I was growing up science was "cool" thanks to the space program, etc. Things have changed dramatically. Before I retired from an R&D career at a major energy company, one of my duties was to perform campus recruiting at some of the top American science and engineering universities. American-born candidates were as rare as hens' teeth. The majority of people I interviewed were either Indian or Chinese. Today when I visit the lab where I once worked, the majority of the technical staff is foreign born. I imagine most are here thanks to special visas. I would hope they plan to become naturalized citizens. We need to keep the knowledge here.
5
It's concerning enough when, as you report, an administration vastly decreases budgetary support for the sciences.
But the true depravity, the astonishing thrust toward social control and domination, is revealed only when you combine the bland oatmeal of budget recommendations with the wild eyed effort already underway to control debate and information, to control public perception and awareness in pursuit of vile political ends.
So, we have elimination of population questions from surveys; we've lost access to important sources of data and the actual destruction of those data; we have refusal to allow government agencies to inform policy decisions with well-defined data sets.
We have conservatives seeking to override science with whimsical interpretations of the Bible, seeking to ignore the founding fathers they otherwise swear to revere, and create a religious government in America.
We have a President who comes into office believing he is, and ought to be be, a dictator. Like all tyrants in history, he begins by creating distrust and even hatred for 'the intellectual' elite; he takes every opportunity to encourage contempt for any traditional source of logic or information, he dismisses debate as weakness bordering on treachery.
You are correct to be concerned about Trump's budgetary pogrom against science and reality itself, but that's just the most obvious feature of his rush to power and control.
But the true depravity, the astonishing thrust toward social control and domination, is revealed only when you combine the bland oatmeal of budget recommendations with the wild eyed effort already underway to control debate and information, to control public perception and awareness in pursuit of vile political ends.
So, we have elimination of population questions from surveys; we've lost access to important sources of data and the actual destruction of those data; we have refusal to allow government agencies to inform policy decisions with well-defined data sets.
We have conservatives seeking to override science with whimsical interpretations of the Bible, seeking to ignore the founding fathers they otherwise swear to revere, and create a religious government in America.
We have a President who comes into office believing he is, and ought to be be, a dictator. Like all tyrants in history, he begins by creating distrust and even hatred for 'the intellectual' elite; he takes every opportunity to encourage contempt for any traditional source of logic or information, he dismisses debate as weakness bordering on treachery.
You are correct to be concerned about Trump's budgetary pogrom against science and reality itself, but that's just the most obvious feature of his rush to power and control.
4
Scientific inquiry knows no boundaries. Published research is read by other scientists in other countries. Interesting work that is not funded here will be done elsewhere. And America will continue its downward spiral. Decades ago I invented an item that could be of value in reducing fossil fuel use. I could never get funding here. But I am now commuting to another country where they are designing a prototype. They see its value in the long term, not, as is common here, in next quarter's profit.
9
Knowledge is power, and new knowledge enables us to build a better world.
Investment in fundamental research is the seed corn that secures America's health, wealth and security. The draconic cuts in research support proposed by the President's budget are particularly troublesome.
Our research universities and national laboratories are the envy of the world. It took decades to build our research infrastructure to its current world-leading position, but it could just take a few years to tear it down. Other countries will be eager to lure away our brightest researchers, much to our detriment.
In the past, Congress (and especially the GOP) have been acutely cognizant of the enormous benefits of investing in fundamental research and have been staunch supporters of vigorous investments into research even in times of fiscal austerity. Let's hope they protect America's world leadership in research at all fronts.
Investment in fundamental research is the seed corn that secures America's health, wealth and security. The draconic cuts in research support proposed by the President's budget are particularly troublesome.
Our research universities and national laboratories are the envy of the world. It took decades to build our research infrastructure to its current world-leading position, but it could just take a few years to tear it down. Other countries will be eager to lure away our brightest researchers, much to our detriment.
In the past, Congress (and especially the GOP) have been acutely cognizant of the enormous benefits of investing in fundamental research and have been staunch supporters of vigorous investments into research even in times of fiscal austerity. Let's hope they protect America's world leadership in research at all fronts.
9
"what a maroon!"
This computer is a direct result of the science developed during the space race and moon shot, and that's one example.
other point:
Welcome to the New Spain where our huge armada will be sunk by storms of little missiles and advanced technology that we ignore to our peril.
The Swamp was mentioned, looking about many of the new people are just those swamp people that blamed for the supposed disaster besetting the country. Funny that were the swamp only located in NY and other locations. Now they are together in WDC. How convenient, how robber baron like, how vile.
Hire the son-in-law to be the enforcer. I think we had enough of that under the Kennedys'. Now we have it under the strumpets.
I'd call it a coup foisted upon a confederacy of dunces and fools.
This computer is a direct result of the science developed during the space race and moon shot, and that's one example.
other point:
Welcome to the New Spain where our huge armada will be sunk by storms of little missiles and advanced technology that we ignore to our peril.
The Swamp was mentioned, looking about many of the new people are just those swamp people that blamed for the supposed disaster besetting the country. Funny that were the swamp only located in NY and other locations. Now they are together in WDC. How convenient, how robber baron like, how vile.
Hire the son-in-law to be the enforcer. I think we had enough of that under the Kennedys'. Now we have it under the strumpets.
I'd call it a coup foisted upon a confederacy of dunces and fools.
7
I think that at this point in our timeline of modern society it is more important for people to understand that scientific facts play the most important part in our lives. It is important to understand how scientific research taught us things that we now take for granted like how to prevent infections and other diseases which used to be common. How the food that we eat and the water that we drink plays a critical role in our health. How the trashing of our environment is building up to catastrophic consequences.
I have spent much of my life living off NIH funding doing research in the field of biochemistry. I believe that health research will quickly become irrelevant in the face of climate change and the contamination of our natural environment. If we don't have a planet that supports life everything else becomes irrelevant. Thus, humans should be doing things that science has already taught us we should be doing and better educating the planet with this knowledge.
I have spent much of my life living off NIH funding doing research in the field of biochemistry. I believe that health research will quickly become irrelevant in the face of climate change and the contamination of our natural environment. If we don't have a planet that supports life everything else becomes irrelevant. Thus, humans should be doing things that science has already taught us we should be doing and better educating the planet with this knowledge.
14
Unless you think science effects the actions of humans it is not that important.
Trump's power is based on a coalition of social movements in this country that are strange bedfellows: secular economic power elites who despise government taxation and intervention in the market place, anti-government "state's rights" Dixiecrats and racists, and the religious conservatives and (since the 1980s) authoritarian theocratic christian fundamentalists. The later two, principally from the south that morphed throughout the country following the disillusionment of society following the economic and social collapse of the 1970s and early 1980s, and whose power seems to ebb and flow with the social conditions of the country, have always viewed with hostility the secular (and international) community of scientists who do not conform to expected notions of dogma and belief that underpin their theological, authoritarian weltanschauung. Science, especially Evolution, is always viewed as a threat to their belief system, and social and political justification for their social power and legitimacy. This social war, on their part, has been going on for decades (the North-South cultural war never seems to fade), and apparently the Trump (mis)Administration is their (final?) attempt to stamp their dogma on American society. They will fail, because there will be resistance and reaction, and eventually the majority will believe it is ultimately harmful and don't want to be forced to go to church. But the damage will huge.
9
The decline of American science has been going on for some time. The cancellation of the Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) project in 1993 was a milestone. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are willing to spend what it takes to maintain American leadership.
Even in the field of computer science, China and the United States are now equal in high performance computing (according to the Top 500 List), and in device fabrication the United States has effectively left the game. The next innovations in solid state physics will likely be made where industry and government have a stake in their application.
The Trump Administration's attack on climate science is understandable, given the influence of fossil fuel sellers and religious zealots in getting him elected. The broader attack on evidence and reason is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. It would be surprising if mainstream scientific inquiry were not affected in some way.
But let's be honest with ourselves. None of this would be happening without the acquiescence of the American voter, whose grasp of American science has been dumbed down by a generation of politicians from both parties. Trump is merely the latest and the worst.
Even in the field of computer science, China and the United States are now equal in high performance computing (according to the Top 500 List), and in device fabrication the United States has effectively left the game. The next innovations in solid state physics will likely be made where industry and government have a stake in their application.
The Trump Administration's attack on climate science is understandable, given the influence of fossil fuel sellers and religious zealots in getting him elected. The broader attack on evidence and reason is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. It would be surprising if mainstream scientific inquiry were not affected in some way.
But let's be honest with ourselves. None of this would be happening without the acquiescence of the American voter, whose grasp of American science has been dumbed down by a generation of politicians from both parties. Trump is merely the latest and the worst.
16
This editorial is a bit of a mess. We get quotes from Peter Thiel (!) and a mention of Arlen Specter (!) to show some sort of ideological balance, and then statements from self-interested advocates crying about how this budget will hurt them. It's possible, just possible, that spending for many of these agencies is bloated and maintained that way for political reasons, but we don't get an analysis of that from this piece.
My biggest concern with the Trump administration, at this point, is not so much about funding for scientific research but more about whether or not they're willing to listen to the conclusions that come out of it.
My biggest concern with the Trump administration, at this point, is not so much about funding for scientific research but more about whether or not they're willing to listen to the conclusions that come out of it.
1
Harold Varmus provided excellent arguments for why it's a lie to call NIH bloated:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/opinion/why-trumps-nih-cuts-should-wo...
Simply put, grants are fiercely competitive, and hardly any of the money goes toward federal bureaucracy. Scientists work tireless hours for low salaries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/opinion/why-trumps-nih-cuts-should-wo...
Simply put, grants are fiercely competitive, and hardly any of the money goes toward federal bureaucracy. Scientists work tireless hours for low salaries.
2
Government support of research is an important issue. We need more rather than less.
However, that can only be done together with reforms of the drug industry more generally, and patent law used by it.
What we pay for is turned into private profit. Worse, it is turned into abusive profit. What we paid to do is sold back to us at grotesque prices.
We ought not to pay for more of that. Yet we ought to pay for more research.
It is a larger question than just Federal funding of research. It is ownership of that research, who benefits.
However, that can only be done together with reforms of the drug industry more generally, and patent law used by it.
What we pay for is turned into private profit. Worse, it is turned into abusive profit. What we paid to do is sold back to us at grotesque prices.
We ought not to pay for more of that. Yet we ought to pay for more research.
It is a larger question than just Federal funding of research. It is ownership of that research, who benefits.
33
April 22, Washington DC and many other cities--the March for Science is coming. Be there.
30
This is how once great nations begin to fail. Alienate immigrants, cut science, cut programs that help your neediest citizens, cut or eliminate funding for the arts and humanities, gut the EPA, etc.. All this so the Trump can increase defense spending. We already spend more than most of the world together, but defense contractors and investors will make tons of money off this. By failing to invest in our young people with incentives for education, we our contributing to our own downward spiral. If we continue down this path, what are we suppose to be defending.
47
What does the Interstate Highway System have to do with science?
Also, the Manhattan Project and Moonshot were well-defined ENGINEERING projects, for which the science had been worked out much earlier -- by non-Americans to boot.
Continuing to throw good money into the WashDC science swamp for little, if any return is just wasteful.
Also, the Manhattan Project and Moonshot were well-defined ENGINEERING projects, for which the science had been worked out much earlier -- by non-Americans to boot.
Continuing to throw good money into the WashDC science swamp for little, if any return is just wasteful.
4
"Continuing to throw good money into the WashDC science swamp for little, if any return is just wasteful."....The reason the United States has enjoyed a technological advantage versus the rest of the world is the result of Government investment in basic research. It has led to the creation of our great universities and internationally recognized centers of excellence. Cut government funding of basic research and you can kiss or technology advantage good bye.
42
DC and the NIH are not the only places where research grants and scientists live. For 6 years I had the honor and privilege of working with an excellent researcher at a local medical college. What he was doing was basic research on cancer and metastasis in an attempt to explain how cancer cells broke away from their original sites and established themselves in other organs. Other research may appear to be a waste of time and money but, as the history of many scientific endeavors proves, you never know from where or who or how an answer will arise. Serendipity is far more common than most people, especially those who do not work in science, care to believe.
34
The point, missed by Steve, is that the government invests in early stages of research where no present-day firms will invest. One area not mentioned in the opinion piece or by Steve, is the digital computer revolution. It started in 1945 and continued to 1980. Another is the internet, which both Steve and I use. These were and to some extent, still are funded by the US government. The big profits of private industry are based on US government spending.
5
It's not only Trump who is anti-science - I'm waiting to hear Trump call it fake science - it's the almost the entire Republican party. What in heaven's name is wrong with them? Really, what is wrong? I say that because I cannot believe there are that many people out there who can so blithely deny scientists. Do they realize how far we as a civilization has come because of science? Just scan the last century as Exhibit One. Yes, scientific theories go through many trials and tribulations before they become accepted science. And even then they are subject to dispute. If they can be proven incorrect then further examination will proceed. This often happens in drug trials. Over the course of decades there are many variables which may change. But the longer the span of time passes with no reputable challenges to a theory, the longer it becomes set in stone. Such is Einstein's Relativity and Darwin's Evolution theories, which by the way remains subject to testing. Many of us amateurs have been convinced that scientific theory is the same as someone having a notion, a fleeting thought, an opinion, like who may win a sporting event, or will it rain today. Those "theories" are not scientific theories, yet for some they just can't get that into their thick skulls. Perhaps they should have trekked out to Los Alamos in 1945 and stood at Ground Zero, doubting the potential danger of the atomic bomb.
DD
Manhattan
DD
Manhattan
204
But a Swiss patent clerk did have a couple of hunches, fleeting thoughts, opinions and notions about physics that remained just that until they were confirmed by observed actual phenomena.
Indeed, Einstein had a hunch that there could be a force that was contrary to gravity which he rejected by fudging his math with a cosmological constant. And Einstein rejected quantum theory as unnatural and contrary to how God would make the universe. Newton observed certain physical world impacts that he could not explain while believing in all kinds of supernatural nonsense.
J.B.S. Haldane observed that the universe is not only strange it is stranger than we can imagine. And he noted that any sufficiently advanced alien technology would be indistinguishable to us from magic.
Indeed, Einstein had a hunch that there could be a force that was contrary to gravity which he rejected by fudging his math with a cosmological constant. And Einstein rejected quantum theory as unnatural and contrary to how God would make the universe. Newton observed certain physical world impacts that he could not explain while believing in all kinds of supernatural nonsense.
J.B.S. Haldane observed that the universe is not only strange it is stranger than we can imagine. And he noted that any sufficiently advanced alien technology would be indistinguishable to us from magic.
2
Science is hard because human beings have a very difficult time tolerating ambiguity and an even more difficult time learning something so new it contradicts their previously held convictions. Two groups of people have a particularly hard time grasping the basic nature of the scientific method and the goal of experimentation. These groups are 1. deeply religious people who stand by their convictions in the face of contrary evidence, because their personal beliefs are more important to them that consensual reality and 2. criminals who feel that their own needs and wants outweigh any other sort of considerations, and so doing an experiment to find out whether a theory is supported by evidence, just seems like a total waste of time to them. They know what they know and nothing else matters.
Which of these two groups do the member of the current administration who want to cut the funding for basic research fall into?
Which of these two groups do the member of the current administration who want to cut the funding for basic research fall into?
4
And, Dennis, what do you say and do when "settled science, as it fairly often is, proven wrong?
Please be specific.
Please be specific.
1
This is the difference between our country and others in Western Europe. Many of those leaders have degrees in science related fields (Chancellor Merkel has a Ph.D in physics) in our country we have mostly lawyers and MBA types in charge. The terrible truth of this decade and going forward, is our survival will depend largely on knowing the science of whatever mess our business class drives us into.
265
Clinton and Obama did not defund science. They understood the importance of government funding basic science. My friends in Silicon Valley with engineering degrees as well as those in the business side understand the need for the government to fund science.
The internet was developed through government funding.
The internet was developed through government funding.
2
Remember Ronald Reagan's (aka Gordon Gecko) pronouncement "greed is good"? It sent a generation of the best and brightest to business school rather than science.
5
Even Pope Francis has a master's degree in chemistry. The celebration of ignorance and attack on so-called "elites" is ridiculous.
2
Basic research has been feeding off the teat of government support ever since WWII. it's about time that the private sector took over the feeding. this can be done either through exploiting the profit motive (the hi-tech industry leads the way in computer and AI research for this reason) or through the use of tax incentives to companies tat support research.
2
Private funding of basic science is a fading dream. We're headed in the wrong direction as premier private science ventures, such as Bell Labs, shrink and dry up despite generous tax breaks. Moreover lowering or eliminating the corporate tax rate, a Republican priority, reduces the value of tax deductions, making them less of a tool.
The problem with private funding is the profit motive. Scientists often explore things just because they are interesting, not because they will make a buck. They have no idea of practical applications. Yet this work often results in applications beyond their wildest dreams. The best place for this kind of endeavor is in universities, not industry or government labs.
Investing in science produces jobs and helps the economy. There's ample proof that the private sector is incapable of funding R&D over the long term because short sighted business determinations get in the way of effective research methodologies. The government is doing us all a big favor when it invests our tax dollars in research.
3
I would argue that Trump, his henchmen, and his legions of defense budget inflators/deregulators/tax cutters absolutely DO believe in climate change and the rising threats from disease.
They truly just DON'T care - they are immoral and they imagine their money will protect them.
The UFO they need to consider: MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant diseases DON'T care what's in their wallets.
They truly just DON'T care - they are immoral and they imagine their money will protect them.
The UFO they need to consider: MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant diseases DON'T care what's in their wallets.
15
As their business model increasingly depends on the public financing of drug discovery, it would be interesting to see what the pharmaceutical industry lobbying arm is saying about the proposed budget.
12
I think the real issue is that looks real primary research is being done under federal auspices except at the various government labs, and a great deal of that will not be translatable into meaningful developments that benefit society.
The only really cutting edge stuff is being done by NASA, particularly since Switzerland and Europe own and contol the large partial collider at the CERN Facility.
The only really cutting edge stuff is being done by NASA, particularly since Switzerland and Europe own and contol the large partial collider at the CERN Facility.
1
For want of a wall,
The science was lost.
Alas. What can you do when people prefer xenophobia to the great international and necessary exercise of scientific inquiry?
The science was lost.
Alas. What can you do when people prefer xenophobia to the great international and necessary exercise of scientific inquiry?
24
Among developed nations we are not first in health care, but we managed to save the improvements the ACA brought us instead of burning it to the ground like the GOP would like. But in science, we are leaders. The whole world needs our science. We should be funding it more, not less. Trump doesn't understand much of anything ("nobody knew it was so complicated"). We and Congress need to move on without him. March for science April 29.
14
April 22, not April 29.
Just what can you expect, from the party of the " uneducated ". I am extremely tired of being polite and attempting to reason with the willfully ignorant. Believe what you wish. Fine. About about you stop benefiting from all those elite " science things" ? No more medicine, automobiles, television, refrigerators, internet, etc. etc. etc. Please, just go back to the 1800s. Such a NICE, simple life. And short.
34
Trump and the GOP are not the only ones who do not understand why we need science, scientific research that is funded by the government, or how scientific discoveries affect our lives. Americans do not receive a good education in any of the "STEM" fields as part of their K-12 schooling or in college. One does not need a degree in science to comprehend the basics of how scientists decide if a result is significant or how they test a hypothesis or why we need roads, buildings, or anything else meeting certain standards. What is required are teachers who know their subject matter and parents who are willing to allow science to be taught to their children. Another requirement ought to be the removal of the "It's science and too hard to understand" attitude that our politicians and public have.
Trump is merely the latest in a long line of elected officials who do not understand or care about how science can improve our world and our lives. The problem is that we pay for this ignorance and slavish devotion to allowing companies to dump and destroy the environment with illnesses, injuries, and ruined areas that are not fixable unless an enormous amount of money is spent on them. We pay for it with unvaccinated children who infect others with compromised immune systems. Ignorance is great until you total up the cost.
Trump is merely the latest in a long line of elected officials who do not understand or care about how science can improve our world and our lives. The problem is that we pay for this ignorance and slavish devotion to allowing companies to dump and destroy the environment with illnesses, injuries, and ruined areas that are not fixable unless an enormous amount of money is spent on them. We pay for it with unvaccinated children who infect others with compromised immune systems. Ignorance is great until you total up the cost.
16
It is not a question of "needing" science, but one of who is best suited for doing the research and engineering department.
Government has a role, but they should not be in a position to select the winners and losers.
Government has a role, but they should not be in a position to select the winners and losers.
1
You do not understand the role of the government in this. If this sort of research is not funded it will not be done by private companies. Private companies are interested, rightly, in their bottom line. Government is supporting basic research that private companies will not do because it's not profitable.
1
Donald is intellectually lazy, with a "very good brain" that has lain dormant for most of his adult life. He professes to be a business genius, but he's really an actor in an infomercial, spouting canned lines while the real work is done by real experts behind the scenes. He keeps blathering about how he builds great things, but I doubt he understands how a blasting cap works or how long it takes cement to cure. His mind is as empty as his soul.
It would be unreasonable to think someone like him could have any interest in scientific progress unless it increases his personal income.
It would be unreasonable to think someone like him could have any interest in scientific progress unless it increases his personal income.
44
It isn't only science where government performs well. The abolition of slavery, repeal of Jim Crow laws, school desegregation, The civil rights act, the voting rights act, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would never have happened without government involvement.
25
How in the world can you expect a President who routinely ignores facts, who routinely lies, who routinely changes what he maintains to support science?
Can a leopard change its spots?
Can a leopard change its spots?
42
I think the animal you mean for a comparison would be a hyena?
3
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT To the fake president is Trump Tower. The end of the government's role in R & D, research and development, by monetizing and privatizing it has weakened our national defense. Big Biz has got legions of attorneys dreaming up ways of suing anyone they suspect of infringing on their patents, thereby effectively stifling innovation and competition. The Free Market is a flop, since its progeny is none other than out national Caligula-Nero hybrid, the Trumpenstein Monster. An example of self-defeating "free" market that's slashed into our business earnings is the humble solar cell, that was discovered while researching the photovoltaic effect in the 50s, for use in the space program. In the pursuit of bigger profits, corporations were encouraged to slash and burn US jobs to export them to cheap wage countries, with the result that China has overtaken the world in producing solar cell panels. Building a wall near Mexico will do nothing at all to correct this fatal economic error. Slashing funds for scientific research will give other countries the edge over us. Trump is incapable of performing his official duties since almost no vacancies in the Administration have been filled, weakening our homeland security even further. The 25th Amendment MUST be invoked. Trump is strangling the nation with his cockamamie policies dreamed up by his Cabinet of Horrors. His actions are speeding the day of his impeachment for high crimes and treason.
3
Government research funding help in appropriate places and for appropriate efforts (no shortage of example of totally absurd and wasteful "studies") is fine, but I find it amazing that some people genuinely seem to feel that ONLY the government is capable of ensuring progress in the sciences. Somehow we got through a long time without looking to DC to decide what and when we should think up and create new ideas. Progress will not screech to a grinding halt and the US will not become a total backwater if Washington isn't steering the research ship!
3
Don't know what you consider to be "wasteful studies," but basic research is extremely important. There'd be no MRI, lasers (with a huge number of applications), smartphones, (with computers small enough to fit in a smartphone), advanced electronics, and more if it weren't for what you would have likely called "wasteful research" in quantum mechanics in the early 20th century. I could list numerous "wasteful" experiments that were crucial in the development of quantum mechanics.
In particular, MRI (which had the previous "scary" name of NMR) would not be possible at all without physicists having developed instruments to measure the magnetic moments of various particles, like the proton. (Quantum mechanics was indispensable for this, too!) Even something as esoteric as General Relativity has practical application: GPS! GPS would fall apart in under 2 minutes without GR. Getting back to lasers, it was Einstein who discovered the principle that makes them work. It wasn't until decades later the technology was advanced enough to make them. And certainly Einstein didn't have optical media (like CDs and DVDs), surgery, etching, ranging, fusion research, GPS, and more in mind. Targeted research is also important, but it depends heavily on basic research. And the benefits may well be as long as decades.
If we stop basic research, the rest of the world will pass us by.
Also: Who put Sputnik up? Who put a men on the moon? Gov't.
In particular, MRI (which had the previous "scary" name of NMR) would not be possible at all without physicists having developed instruments to measure the magnetic moments of various particles, like the proton. (Quantum mechanics was indispensable for this, too!) Even something as esoteric as General Relativity has practical application: GPS! GPS would fall apart in under 2 minutes without GR. Getting back to lasers, it was Einstein who discovered the principle that makes them work. It wasn't until decades later the technology was advanced enough to make them. And certainly Einstein didn't have optical media (like CDs and DVDs), surgery, etching, ranging, fusion research, GPS, and more in mind. Targeted research is also important, but it depends heavily on basic research. And the benefits may well be as long as decades.
If we stop basic research, the rest of the world will pass us by.
Also: Who put Sputnik up? Who put a men on the moon? Gov't.
2
If this opinion was meant to highlight the 'morale failure' of Mrs. Clinton the Democrats then it has missed its target by miles. If anything else, it is 'men of God' who have lived short of their teachings.
I am not a religious person but I know the often quoted '10 commandments ' does not include 'shall not abort.' I am sure Trump has broken at least half of those commandments and yet many of you voted for him.
If anything else, this election has further reinforced my dim view of religion.
I am not a religious person but I know the often quoted '10 commandments ' does not include 'shall not abort.' I am sure Trump has broken at least half of those commandments and yet many of you voted for him.
If anything else, this election has further reinforced my dim view of religion.
4
NIH funding would be far more palatable if the efforts were made to fund heath care research beyond basic research. Prevention receives minimal funding. Despite our large investments in health care research over the years, we have an expensive ineffective health care system.
1
"NIH funding would be far more palatable if the efforts were made to fund heath care research beyond basic research. Prevention receives minimal funding. "
Not clear where you get your information, but NIH has a separate Office of Disease Prevention (ODP). It funds thousands of projects for disease, chronic health problem, and injury prevention. As of 2015, the ODP's budget was over $7Bn, approximately 25% of the NIH's total $30Bn budget. Does that sounds like "minimal funding"?? (And this category does not include other substantial funding specifically directed at health care for consumers, i.e., you and me.)
We may have an "expensive ineffective health care system" but this is not due to NIH. You can thank a profit-driven health insurance system, a hugely profitable drug industry, and a political ideology that glorifies tax reduction for the wealthy.
Not clear where you get your information, but NIH has a separate Office of Disease Prevention (ODP). It funds thousands of projects for disease, chronic health problem, and injury prevention. As of 2015, the ODP's budget was over $7Bn, approximately 25% of the NIH's total $30Bn budget. Does that sounds like "minimal funding"?? (And this category does not include other substantial funding specifically directed at health care for consumers, i.e., you and me.)
We may have an "expensive ineffective health care system" but this is not due to NIH. You can thank a profit-driven health insurance system, a hugely profitable drug industry, and a political ideology that glorifies tax reduction for the wealthy.
4
What is science?
Science is the best current natural theoretical explanation for observed natural phenomena based upon the best currently available natural observed information. Science stands only as long as there is no better theory nor better information. Science can be confirmed, repudiated, refined and reformed. Double blind repeatable controlled tests are the primary blocks upon which science is built.
Theology is not science since it is supernatural. History, sociology, economics, law, accounting and finance are not science. Along with all of the so-called social sciences there are way too many unknowns and too many variables to fashion any meaningful controls or repeatable theoretical tests.
Ignorance aka the lack of knowledge is the almost universal normal human condition. Curiosity including the ability to think independently, creatively and originally is a human rarity that we define as genius. Stupidity aka knowing things that are not so is not so rare among too many people..
We barely understand the 5% of the nature of physical reality with two currently irreconcilable theories-relativity and quantum- that do not deal with the 70% of reality that is a force we call dark energy and a mass we denote dark matter that is 25% of reality. A war on science is doomed to perpetuating more darkness.
Let there be light!
Science is the best current natural theoretical explanation for observed natural phenomena based upon the best currently available natural observed information. Science stands only as long as there is no better theory nor better information. Science can be confirmed, repudiated, refined and reformed. Double blind repeatable controlled tests are the primary blocks upon which science is built.
Theology is not science since it is supernatural. History, sociology, economics, law, accounting and finance are not science. Along with all of the so-called social sciences there are way too many unknowns and too many variables to fashion any meaningful controls or repeatable theoretical tests.
Ignorance aka the lack of knowledge is the almost universal normal human condition. Curiosity including the ability to think independently, creatively and originally is a human rarity that we define as genius. Stupidity aka knowing things that are not so is not so rare among too many people..
We barely understand the 5% of the nature of physical reality with two currently irreconcilable theories-relativity and quantum- that do not deal with the 70% of reality that is a force we call dark energy and a mass we denote dark matter that is 25% of reality. A war on science is doomed to perpetuating more darkness.
Let there be light!
16
How do you Make America Great Again with all these cuts to Science? Our technological edge is one of the highlights of our country. It is also an area of really good paying jobs. Cutting into that hurts our country, without a doubt.
13
Exactly. And this will probably mean more jobs lost than the few he saved (bribed Carrier for).
3
A most shameful budget by a most ignorant (willful?!) president. Big- mouth Trump talks (but does not walk the talk) about the marvels of technology, apparently oblivious as to why that is so (the investment in basic research, the support in science in general, and the funds that make it possible for the digital and technological revolution to advance). And trying to 'steal' the little money there is from the social issues we all depend on, so to give it to a bloated military (some 20% is wasted or abused). How come there are no 'true' governmental advisers to stop this nonsense from occurring?
6
The war on science began long before Trump came on the scene.
The House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology is loaded on the Republican side with proto-Homo sapiens whose knowledge of science is non-existent and led by that Texas wonder, Lamar S. Smith.
Compared to some on that Committee Trump is a rocket scientist -- faint praise indeed.
The House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology is loaded on the Republican side with proto-Homo sapiens whose knowledge of science is non-existent and led by that Texas wonder, Lamar S. Smith.
Compared to some on that Committee Trump is a rocket scientist -- faint praise indeed.
10
Not to mention his senate counterpart, Sen. Inhofe, a creationist and climate denier. You can only hold those views if you hold science in contempt.
3
Let's just get rid of the Republican Party completely. They are outdated and shown to be useless at governing.
The Democratic Party can be three phases, the conservative group, the moderates, and of course the crazy far left. Who need republicans?
The Democratic Party can be three phases, the conservative group, the moderates, and of course the crazy far left. Who need republicans?
6
It seems that when these science deniers want to make a point they start with "Now I'm not a scientist..." and then go on to ridicule whatever science they are out to condemn. I have to ask why, if you are not a scientist, would I care about your analysis of what is at its root a science question? Please sit down and let the scientists speak. That way, maybe we could learn something about the issues at hand.
23
Marty, I love the way people throw around the title "science denier". No one is denying science. They are questioning some of the hypotheses that scientist try to present as confirmed fact. There's a difference, especially when much of the observed evidence doesn't support a certain hypothesis but the scientists continue to present it as fact. And by the way I have 2 degrees in science, one in Wildlife Biology and the other a medical degree. Not that those facts matter as you likely lump me in with the science deniers.
What false hypotheses are you claiming that scientists continue to spread? The two issues science deniers generally speak out against are climate change and vaccines. The overwhelming majority of research demonstrates that man-made climate change is real, and that vaccines don't cause autism. So what exactly should we call someone who denies these facts?
2
I would expect and certainly hope that ALL the science-based discretionary funding that was cut in President Trump’s budget not only will be restored by Congress – even by Trump in easy negotiations – but increased. Yet the initial cuts point to a persistent problem that threatens to overwhelm us.
Our entitlements consume SO much of what our government spends at the federal level (and we spend yet more on them at state and local levels), that discretionary spending is getting powerfully squeezed. This is a problem on which even some liberals have expressed concern. It goes beyond the fact that states have eviscerated education and infrastructure funding to keep pace with the expanding needs of Medicaid: it goes to the heart of who we are as a people. Put all our federal social welfare costs together, not just Medicaid, and they consume over HALF our annual federal budget. Add defense to that and the funding available for anything else is rapidly disappearing, unless we resolve to become Greece.
When Thiel spoke of an Interstate Highway System, the Manhattan Project and the Apollo Program, he spoke of times and an America when government didn’t need to fund Medicare OR Medicaid, or a whole host of social programs. With broader-based taxation on ALL our people, instead of increasing taxation on a thin sliver of our higher earners, we could afford to do these great things and THOUGHT we could afford to do the other things, too (as JFK said). Turns out we were wrong.
Our entitlements consume SO much of what our government spends at the federal level (and we spend yet more on them at state and local levels), that discretionary spending is getting powerfully squeezed. This is a problem on which even some liberals have expressed concern. It goes beyond the fact that states have eviscerated education and infrastructure funding to keep pace with the expanding needs of Medicaid: it goes to the heart of who we are as a people. Put all our federal social welfare costs together, not just Medicaid, and they consume over HALF our annual federal budget. Add defense to that and the funding available for anything else is rapidly disappearing, unless we resolve to become Greece.
When Thiel spoke of an Interstate Highway System, the Manhattan Project and the Apollo Program, he spoke of times and an America when government didn’t need to fund Medicare OR Medicaid, or a whole host of social programs. With broader-based taxation on ALL our people, instead of increasing taxation on a thin sliver of our higher earners, we could afford to do these great things and THOUGHT we could afford to do the other things, too (as JFK said). Turns out we were wrong.
1
This Congress isn’t going to dramatically increase taxes. Period. That leaves us with few options: we either spend dramatically less on social welfare programs or less on discretionary things, such as science, that we ALSO consider important; or cease to fund our military in an increasingly unstable world that became destabilized largely because we began retreating from it – and if we dramatically cut defense, it’s only a temporary Hail Mary, as the needs of our social welfare programs will continue to increase until we’re right back where we started in just a few years.
Seeking to ignore the fact that we’ve kicked these cans down the road so far that we’ve just about run out of road and finally must make some basic decisions about REAL priorities … solves nothing. The message Trump’s budget seeks to convey is that it’s crunch-time for America, and we need to have a real conversation about what we can really afford and what we really want to spend money on.
Seeking to ignore the fact that we’ve kicked these cans down the road so far that we’ve just about run out of road and finally must make some basic decisions about REAL priorities … solves nothing. The message Trump’s budget seeks to convey is that it’s crunch-time for America, and we need to have a real conversation about what we can really afford and what we really want to spend money on.
We have no one to blame but ourselves.
#ThanksHillary
#ThanksCNN
#ThanksNYT (for pushing H over B)
We had no real vision - just wonkishness and the media had a hunger for headlines. Yep, we sold pharmaceuticals and soap. We also sold out civility and common sense. Let's hope that we haven't sold the very planet.
All we have left is obstruction and lawsuits. It's ugly, but what choice do we have? Let's do it.
#ThanksHillary
#ThanksCNN
#ThanksNYT (for pushing H over B)
We had no real vision - just wonkishness and the media had a hunger for headlines. Yep, we sold pharmaceuticals and soap. We also sold out civility and common sense. Let's hope that we haven't sold the very planet.
All we have left is obstruction and lawsuits. It's ugly, but what choice do we have? Let's do it.
3
The foundation of American greatness is our scientific research. Even the advanced weapons that Trump so covets are the product of scientific research. Advanced technology springs from research. New products, medicines and procedures are the fruits of research.
Business cannot fund such open ended research because it usually take decades before it pays off. The average time before a breakthrough product is first prototyped in the lab before it ends up in everyone's home is about 30 years. I am not exaggerating. Only government has the deep pockets and open ended time frames to fund it because government doesn't have to show a quarterly profit. No one knows where research will lead, so it is impossible to gauge it up front for economic potential.
Materials science is crucial because it leads to unknown developments. Trump doesn't even know what materials science is. (It's new alloys, polymers, ceramics, semiconductors, stuff like that). These things are the foundation of the imagination of wonders yet to come.
Our universities attract the brightest minds from around the world. They stay and start businesses that sometimes grow into giants. All new startups stimulate growth, large or small.
Only a barbarian would war against science. Trump is acting like a barbarian. He has appointed his Conan, Steve Bannon, to deconstruct, or more correctly, destroy all that truly makes America great.
Business cannot fund such open ended research because it usually take decades before it pays off. The average time before a breakthrough product is first prototyped in the lab before it ends up in everyone's home is about 30 years. I am not exaggerating. Only government has the deep pockets and open ended time frames to fund it because government doesn't have to show a quarterly profit. No one knows where research will lead, so it is impossible to gauge it up front for economic potential.
Materials science is crucial because it leads to unknown developments. Trump doesn't even know what materials science is. (It's new alloys, polymers, ceramics, semiconductors, stuff like that). These things are the foundation of the imagination of wonders yet to come.
Our universities attract the brightest minds from around the world. They stay and start businesses that sometimes grow into giants. All new startups stimulate growth, large or small.
Only a barbarian would war against science. Trump is acting like a barbarian. He has appointed his Conan, Steve Bannon, to deconstruct, or more correctly, destroy all that truly makes America great.
39
He campaigned on a wall, and having the biggest and baddest military testicles on the planet, in the universe for all we know. And any of those pesky little programs like EPA, NIH, etc...do nothing to reduce the tax rates of his cabinet. I propose diverting all funds targeted for the wall, and half of the military increase be diverted to STEM education.
19
It is interesting to read that Americans are surprised or feign to look as if they were ...this is Great America at work again.
The USA have always relied on Europe for science and never spent any budget on research .That is what capitalism is about : making money without any respect for human life or progress .Pharmaceutical companies, health care insurance stocks,mass mono agriculture chemical corporations,etc...are the best Wall street investments and revenues.The motto of capitalism is : don't care for others,don't care for progress,just care for money.
An other article says : democrats must stop being the party of abortion.
...? What philosophy is behind all that ?
American corporations invade Europe and cheat to pay zero taxes :Apple,Amazon,Google,Yahoo,Starbucks,McDonald, etc...
The USA have always relied on Europe for science and never spent any budget on research .That is what capitalism is about : making money without any respect for human life or progress .Pharmaceutical companies, health care insurance stocks,mass mono agriculture chemical corporations,etc...are the best Wall street investments and revenues.The motto of capitalism is : don't care for others,don't care for progress,just care for money.
An other article says : democrats must stop being the party of abortion.
...? What philosophy is behind all that ?
American corporations invade Europe and cheat to pay zero taxes :Apple,Amazon,Google,Yahoo,Starbucks,McDonald, etc...
1
I have to disagree with you. The science enterprise in the US was second to none, from the '60s into the new century. It is still massive, and capable of performing excellent research, if (and I must emphasize if) we are willing to support this very important work that really only consumes a small part of our budget.
However, the scientific enterprise in the US is fragile, and not as resilient as we would wish. Once it has been starved for years, it will be more and more difficult to revive it, and other countries will surpass us in many scientific fields. This is something we cannot let happen.
However, the scientific enterprise in the US is fragile, and not as resilient as we would wish. Once it has been starved for years, it will be more and more difficult to revive it, and other countries will surpass us in many scientific fields. This is something we cannot let happen.
5
you disagree on tangible facts : Apple,Amazon,Google,Yahoo based in Europe and cheating to pay zero taxes while stealing all business revenue ?
Americans are philosophically mystics . of their own lies...
Americans are philosophically mystics . of their own lies...
Trump's slogan was "Make America Great again." His budget is "Make America Average again."
8
Much worse than that.
8
Show me a person who sneers and scorns the rigor of scientific inquiry, and I'll show you someone who has something to hide.
18
As long a the "science" I'd based on accurate data and reasoned,,and repeatable...analysisi, I will not be scornful. I will be skeptical, bb ecause that is what good scientists are.
If the " science is not all of the above, it is worthy of scorn, and will get it from me.
If the " science is not all of the above, it is worthy of scorn, and will get it from me.
Woe unto the third party voting nihilists of 2016 who fell for Karl Rove's and Vladimir Putin's propaganda campaigns - hook, line and sinker!!!
Yes, you did it again!
Yes, you did it again!
13
Failure to take action on man-made climate change is the stupidest decision ever made at any time by any politician!
The more we defecate the cage we live inside the more we jeopardize the lives of the world's future peoples...possibly trillions of them!...all for the sake of a few mine digging jobs.
Wow...
The more we defecate the cage we live inside the more we jeopardize the lives of the world's future peoples...possibly trillions of them!...all for the sake of a few mine digging jobs.
Wow...
9
45 doesn't believe in climate change--until he's doing the backstroke at Mar-a-Lago.
12
Mar-a-lagoon at 10' above sea level will be a glorious early victory for physics!
6
Maybe he believes it but uses the perception of disbelief as the means towards some nefarious end. I know that's true of his inner circle; Trump himself plays the 'no nothing' so well that I can't really tell.
When you say that "trump doesn't understand" something, like the importance of science or education or basic healthcare, etc, it is really you who don't understand trump.
Editorial boards and other well meaning analysts assume that trump et.al. have the well being of society at heart like all good people. You are basing your arguments on false assumptions.
trump and most of his ilk -bannon, koch bros.,de vos, etc - you know the group - care not one whit for you, me or this country.
They only care about themselves and what they can get for themselves. More more more. More for trump and more for those who can help trump get more for trump.
That is it. Period. Nothing else matters. Let america and the world for that matter shrivel into steaming mushroom cloud of ignorance and hunger as long as it means MORE for the few at the top.
If you do not understand this simple fact, then you slept through last weeks trumpcare eye opener. It was all out in the open for everyone to see. MORE for trump, pense price and goldman sachs....everyone else, let 'em die.
Editorial boards and other well meaning analysts assume that trump et.al. have the well being of society at heart like all good people. You are basing your arguments on false assumptions.
trump and most of his ilk -bannon, koch bros.,de vos, etc - you know the group - care not one whit for you, me or this country.
They only care about themselves and what they can get for themselves. More more more. More for trump and more for those who can help trump get more for trump.
That is it. Period. Nothing else matters. Let america and the world for that matter shrivel into steaming mushroom cloud of ignorance and hunger as long as it means MORE for the few at the top.
If you do not understand this simple fact, then you slept through last weeks trumpcare eye opener. It was all out in the open for everyone to see. MORE for trump, pense price and goldman sachs....everyone else, let 'em die.
35
Agreed: To understand why someone does something, it is useful to consider what they want, what they believe, and their moral character. Judging Trump and his ilk by the same standard as the ordinary people you interact with most of the time is a sure-fire way to reach the wrong conclusion.
What Trump and his gang want most of all is control. They already have more money than they can ever spend, but the drive to obtain more money is (IMHO) driven by the desire for more control, over people and the resources they need to survive.
So I want to refine your definition of "more". The extra money they take is the means towards the ultimate goal of controlling as much of the world as they can lay hands on. They want their grandchildren to own the things that your grandchildren need to survive.
What Trump and his gang want most of all is control. They already have more money than they can ever spend, but the drive to obtain more money is (IMHO) driven by the desire for more control, over people and the resources they need to survive.
So I want to refine your definition of "more". The extra money they take is the means towards the ultimate goal of controlling as much of the world as they can lay hands on. They want their grandchildren to own the things that your grandchildren need to survive.
When you know that the earth is only 10,000 years old, who needs Science? Everything is God's Will; no need to hire pesky researchers.
6
Trump's budget appears to be a cavalcade of Cro-Magnon thinking.
6
Every single thing you have, unless it's a wild animal you caught, a wild plant you harvested, or a rock you picked up off the ground, is the result of someone having asked a basic question of curiosity -- What is that? Why does it do that? What happens if I do this with it? -- and the efforts of tens, hundreds, or thousands of people trying to figure out the answers to those questions and where they might lead. That is science. To shut down the questions because you might not like the answers is deliberate ignorance.
12
Oh, America the Backwards! We're going in the wrong direction and soon the young(er) scientists are going to be leaving for other parts of the world where they can do their work and advance humankind, not stymie it. At least, I would. Why would you work hard for and invest in a scientific education and then not be able to work in your field?
America's going to be left in the dust. Sad!
America's going to be left in the dust. Sad!
11
You mention Mr. Trump’s lack of understanding. That was my great takeaway from the "debates." He came across as a know-nothing prowling the stage like a rabid lion screeching "I'm King of the Jungle." I'm bigger than you and I know what's right and true and anyway I'll bite your head off it you get in my way. Fact is what I say it is. I'll nasty up your waters and your air if I want to! I've got my bottled water back in my den. If you want any of that, get rich so you can buy it like I do! What frightens me is that I see no way whatsoever that any rational thought can be injected into his mind. To me we are in a push-pull between him and civilization. My greatest nightmare is the prospect that civilization will lose.
13
Joining the March for Science on April 22 is a good way to show our support for scientific research and our opposition to Trump's War on Science.
The main march will be held in DC, but satellite marches are planned for 429 cities around the world. There's probably going to be one near you.
For more info, see www.marchforscience.com .
The main march will be held in DC, but satellite marches are planned for 429 cities around the world. There's probably going to be one near you.
For more info, see www.marchforscience.com .
13
Yes, way to go DT- make America great again by dumbing down the population and gutting science and research. That makes about as much sense as anything else he does- at least he's consistent.
Makes me wonder if DT is paving the way for Russian scientific development to rule. It certainly would make it easier if the US scientific presence drops off from the world stage of innovation. US innovation? Nyet!
Makes me wonder if DT is paving the way for Russian scientific development to rule. It certainly would make it easier if the US scientific presence drops off from the world stage of innovation. US innovation? Nyet!
12
All aging Americans should be alarmed by any budget cuts that will slow
Alzheimer's research. The National Institute on Aging of NIH took a big hit due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Half of Americans who reach 85 will go
into some form of dementia. The emotional and economic toll on
American lives will be staggering. Trump's budget is a fine example of tunnel
vision. Fiscal train wreck on the way.
Alzheimer's research. The National Institute on Aging of NIH took a big hit due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Half of Americans who reach 85 will go
into some form of dementia. The emotional and economic toll on
American lives will be staggering. Trump's budget is a fine example of tunnel
vision. Fiscal train wreck on the way.
10
That Trump is anti-science has been clear for a long time now.
It is becoming clearer and cleared that he is also anti-American.
It is becoming clearer and cleared that he is also anti-American.
25
Herbert Hoover's legacy is Hoovervilles. Trumps legacy will include Trump-itises, Trump-phoons, Trump-icanes, Trump-adoes, and Trump-idemics. All much more severe than what mankind had encountered before he was elected.
8
“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” Neil DeGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, Director of the Hayden Planetarium.
32
When you pander to the uneducated, who loathe the intellectual attainment as scientists and computer engineers that you were too lazy to attain, as your base, then you must expect the Donald to cut funding for scientific and other intellectual endeavors. The fallout will be fewer effective drugs, questionable efficacy of drugs, more Flint-type water crises, and higher pollution.
4
Among the many health related programs savaged by the proposed budget, the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program is zeroed out. Maybe someone should let Trump know that exposure to these chemicals in utero is linked to smaller penis size. He will get that.
5
So the candidate who bragged "I like the poorly educated" is gutting government spending on education and science. How is this a surprise?
8
Has anyone yet totaled up the number of good jobs that will be lost due to these proposed cuts. Most of this funding goes for the salaries of the people doing the work. I guess these scientists and other professionals will have to get jobs in the coal mines.
4
A morally bankrupt party led by a president with the intellectual curiosity of a third grader (sorry 3rd graders) and whose idea of nature is the artificial perfection of a manicured golf course.
6
It is often truly said that there is nothing more dangerous than ignorance in actio. The trump administration's approach proves the point.
5
The failure to acknowledge climate change is the primary failure in that it is suicidal. Once you acknowledge the reality and the accompanying problems, there is no choice but to fund the sciences and encourage young scientists.
Will stupidity and greed win out on this suicidal course or have they already won? That is the question.
Will stupidity and greed win out on this suicidal course or have they already won? That is the question.
3
But that's what Putin and the Chinese commies want, destroy America from within. Defunding science benefits only our enemies and the Koch bros. Trump is a fool and a traitor.
7
Reality is not the GOP's friend. They've become a cult where belief outweighs fact, and truth is measured by how strongly one believes in the face of all evidence to the contrary. So far as keeping their base in line goes, ignorance really is strength.
5
You make fine points. It is easy to throw the baby out with the bath water. There is a lot of bath water. The baby is precious and it is irreplaceable once it is gone.
3
Mr. Trump is a man of limited intelligence who cannot grasp even the most basic scientific principles. Of course, he is against science, he cannot understand it!
13
Trump is gutting funding to these programs because he has no clue how they help our country nor does he care. Our we great yet?
10
Trump doesn't care. What he knows doesn't matter, even to him. He is paying off his campaign debts to solidify support and loyalty of those in his base. He doesn't care about the American people--never did, never will--just his own power and wealth.
4
Although Mr. Trump´s proposed budget is a cause for concern, it is worth noting that the NIH budget has been steadily declining since G. W. Bush´s second term. Nostalgic as some people may be of the Obama years, the graph in the editorial shows that he did not do much to increase investment in science. Neglecting science, therefore, seems to cut across party lines, which is even more worrisome.
7
The USA is in great danger of relinquishing its lead in biomedical research and development through this slow starving of the NIH. It's very difficult for senior investigators to convince students that they should pursue a career in science in this country. The smartest students see what is happening, and they can do other things. I fear that over the past 5 years the best and the brightest have been moving on to other careers and the future only looks to get worse. Its madness to throw billions at the war machine and the ridiculous wall, while destroying our future this way.
18
America has been scaling back investment in R&D since Reagan.
America's one time hands down lead in all STEM categories has pretty much evaporated - we are living off the past, eating the seed corn if you will.
45, his sycophants, and most of the republican party are math and science illiterate. They are not capable of making a distinction between discovery and exploitation. Jobs and Gates did not invent anything, they merely were able to connect the dots and exploit the discoveries and inventions made by others (EG DARPA's ethernet).
America does NOT need the wall along Mexico, more defense spending, or tax giveaways to rich people. We sorely need to start re-investing in education and R&D.
America's one time hands down lead in all STEM categories has pretty much evaporated - we are living off the past, eating the seed corn if you will.
45, his sycophants, and most of the republican party are math and science illiterate. They are not capable of making a distinction between discovery and exploitation. Jobs and Gates did not invent anything, they merely were able to connect the dots and exploit the discoveries and inventions made by others (EG DARPA's ethernet).
America does NOT need the wall along Mexico, more defense spending, or tax giveaways to rich people. We sorely need to start re-investing in education and R&D.
10
American innovation has often been funded by progressive taxes on ALL Americans. Putin sure got his $19.5 billion worth from the transfer of Rosneft assets through shell corporations--an agent in the White House and a collaborating GOP whose current ideology is crash-and-burn with our economy.
It makes World War II European looting and collaboration by the Germans look crude indeed.
It makes World War II European looting and collaboration by the Germans look crude indeed.
7
As a budding young scientist I was told by one of my high school teachers that "America will always need people like you". He was a captain in the army reserve and he based his statement on the experiences he had in the services with the contributions of scientists which helped to win wars and make America secure. Unfortunately, I cannot tell my students the same thing my high school teacher told me. America has forgotten what made it great - it seems unlikely we will ever be "great again" unless we are able to remember these lessons.
10
The comments here are concerned with many problems, but there is a priority and that is climate change---if we actually believe what the climatologists are predicting. And then we will have to confront our own numbers, that currently fuel the environmental roadblocks facing humanity.
2
This is a budget that only defense contractors and climate deniers can love. It short-changes all the small, but vitally important, quality-of-life programs like medical research that will save lives, Meals on Wheels, job retraining, support for the arts and diplomacy. In short, all the things that really "Make America Great."
6
The problem with twits like Trump is that if it doesn't produce an immediate profit for those at top then it is not a neccessity. Filling the wallet takes precedence over common sense and human need.
5
This is a much-needed article. However, Peter Thiel, who is a climate-change denier, may not be the best authority to quote. On the other hand, he may be the best Trump has. Certainly there is no one else around Trump who can distinguish an atom from an elbow. His "pro-life" advisor Marjorie Dannenfelser thinks that science has "proved" that life starts at conception, a bit of hare-brained nonsense she may have picked up from Mike Huckabee and Marco "I'm not a science guy" Rubio. He is not going to get scientific advice (at least remotely correct advice) from his offspring and their spouses, a couple of which are now installed in the WH.
4
Once again Trump and the Republican Right show their true colors which has nothing to do with the long term strategic benefit of the country which will allow countries like China and India become more-eminent research and development countries in the world. They are content with not America being first, but being second class, because "we can't afford it". American doublespeak at its best.
7
40 years of tax breaks for the wealthy has made it difficult for the US to compete. We starve our higher institutions and then Invite foreign students to plug the gap to fund our own...just as Purdue.
We need to stop this ridiculous tax break for millionaires conversation and raise taxes on the wealthy, invest in infrastructure, education and technology and find ways to increase jobs and training to Americans by revamping high school to include a longer time frame and more trade training.
Tax breaks for the wealthy are starving the US of growth.
We need to stop this ridiculous tax break for millionaires conversation and raise taxes on the wealthy, invest in infrastructure, education and technology and find ways to increase jobs and training to Americans by revamping high school to include a longer time frame and more trade training.
Tax breaks for the wealthy are starving the US of growth.
11
The Republicans have for decades operated under the principle that lying to maintain their power is acceptable behavior (trickle-down economics, Iran-Contra, WMDs in Iraq, etc.), and Trump is simply the latest and most egregious example of this. We should not be surprised that DJT and the GOP together have no respect for science and positively oppose it. Scientific research has the unfortunate habit of coming up with facts that don't fit their agendas. So of course it has to get labeled as "fake," or better yet, stopped before it can even begin to challenge their party line.
If you wanted to deliberately undermine the US's position in the world in the long run, it would be hard to find a more efficient way of doing it than cutting funding for research that is the basis for all new technology. Making America great again, indeed — it's more like making America break.
If you wanted to deliberately undermine the US's position in the world in the long run, it would be hard to find a more efficient way of doing it than cutting funding for research that is the basis for all new technology. Making America great again, indeed — it's more like making America break.
5
The war on science is part of a war on thinking. The science agencies are being cut, but so are the humanities and social sciences and the arts.
11
Science is "our current best understanding" of reality.
Trump's war on science is not just his wish to defund research efforts -- Trump is engaged in a broad-front war against reality.
Trump's war on science is not just his wish to defund research efforts -- Trump is engaged in a broad-front war against reality.
6
That only 26 people commented on this important issue (8:43 AM) shows that there is no common understanding even in nytimes audience of how important science and education are.
There is a saying that "education is the answer to any problem". Think about it: it is true.
And science is the ultimate education that creates not just jobs but finally everything.
The most uneducated president ever doesn't get that. He and the GOP think that protectionism is better than innovation.
There is a saying that "education is the answer to any problem". Think about it: it is true.
And science is the ultimate education that creates not just jobs but finally everything.
The most uneducated president ever doesn't get that. He and the GOP think that protectionism is better than innovation.
10
The best explanation I've heard so far about trump's motivations are from Rachel Maddow: That he does these things in service to Putin who doubtless has a lot of unpleasant information about him. trump's goal is to reduce America and he is doing that quite well so far (except for ACA). trump cares about trump, period.
7
Just like in the Middle Ages, for this administration, science is whatever fits your world view. National security is viewed only in military terms. There is no understanding that for security you also need scientific advances. So when it's time to make cuts, where else to start than in the human health and research budget. You only need to look at the presidential cabinet puppets to see where this administration's priorities are. America will be great in its increasing ignorance.
7
It's too bad that there seems to be a line connecting not understanding something and wanting that thing eliminated. We can't all be scientists. But it would be nice if we could at least respect that which we do not understand.
6
If President Trump's budget “doesn’t reflect the priorities of a nation committed to protecting and improving the health and well-being of its citizens,” neither does the GOP's benighted AHCA which recently went down in the flames of its own ignition.
We had better get used to the new reality that the nation's commitment "to protecting and improving the health and well-being of its citizens" is history, at least for the time being. Neither the President nor Congrrss cares a fig about national health, not when tax cuts for the one-percent are at-stake.
The President is too lazy to care about anything but hus own need for attention and Congress is too irretrievably feckless.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
We had better get used to the new reality that the nation's commitment "to protecting and improving the health and well-being of its citizens" is history, at least for the time being. Neither the President nor Congrrss cares a fig about national health, not when tax cuts for the one-percent are at-stake.
The President is too lazy to care about anything but hus own need for attention and Congress is too irretrievably feckless.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
8
If we loose our advantage in scientific progress, research and university education (supported extensively by federal research grants), then who will?
China is certainly willing to take the lead in technologies that will be used to dominate the US economically, politically and militarily.
China is certainly willing to take the lead in technologies that will be used to dominate the US economically, politically and militarily.
11
Trump is helping to form the campaign for Democrats in the Mid Terms and the 2020 Presidential Election. A major part of these campaigns are to restore the Departments destroyed by Trump. To do it the Democrats have to have all the Branch's.
5
Science can be bad for business. It's a lot cheaper for a corporation just to throw the garbage right on the street and Not worry about the effect it may cause. Safeguards for oil drilling in the deep-sea is so costly. Inspectors are such a pain. If we got rid of all these regulations life would be so good for corporations and their benefactors. And they would show us their gratitude by giving us a low-paying job. What could go wrong?
9
I was always fascinated by the sciences and even though I didn't become a scientist, engineer or other technical person, I'm still insatiably curious about everything.
I will never forget the day I was in my 10th grade biology class and our teacher had us do a simple exercise. He asked us to watch a burning candle and make as many observations as possible. There were some of us who made over 100 distinct observations during that class. The point being that science requires one to be curious, observant, discriminating and open-minded.
I'm afraid that American society today confuses natural curiosity in the sciences with making stuff which finally "pays off." I'm willing to guess that a lot of those in government today who don't believe in science where like the kids in my biology class who either didn't care about or lacked a healthy curiosity about the world around them.
I will never forget the day I was in my 10th grade biology class and our teacher had us do a simple exercise. He asked us to watch a burning candle and make as many observations as possible. There were some of us who made over 100 distinct observations during that class. The point being that science requires one to be curious, observant, discriminating and open-minded.
I'm afraid that American society today confuses natural curiosity in the sciences with making stuff which finally "pays off." I'm willing to guess that a lot of those in government today who don't believe in science where like the kids in my biology class who either didn't care about or lacked a healthy curiosity about the world around them.
2
I admit I have a vested interest in the NIH. First, they sent me to grad school in the 1960's. My first job was with a drug company and in the 5 years that I worked there I paid enough taxes to more than totally cover the cost of my education. Second, they paid my salary for most of the rest of my career when I worked in medical schools and universities. But more importantly the research they funded probably saved my life. When I had breast cancer in 2007 I had chemotherapy, treatments with a monoclonal antibody for a year and I took an aromatase inhibitor that prevents estrogen biosynthesis for 5 years. All of these treatments were to insure that my highly aggressive cancer did not undergo metastasis and all of them were the results of the pure research done by the NIH. In addition, most of the doctors and scientists who train medical students are working in medical schools because they want to do medical research that is funded by the NIH. They are the doctors that do basic research and clinical studies. They would make much more money in private practice. In addition, if they could not do the research they probably wouldn't stay in teaching and a whole generation of doctors would not be trained. Trump's ideas how to save money are shortsighted and cruel to boot and won't save a penny in the long run.
2
These steep budget cuts on basic scientific research are not surprising for this administration. However, the Potus and his close team carry something more dystopian. They are aligned with a line of thinking and action which looks at any objective truth based on evidence-based empirical research, i.e. facts, incontrovertible evidence, with utter contempt. This permits them to create a parallel universe of alternative facts which makes it easier to gaslight voters. Far from the practical challenge compromising basic research, and therefore American's and the world's quality of life at the end of the day, these cuts signal a cultural shift. Debasing US politics to those being played out in countries which are less mature democracies is one thing. Not opposing this apparent cultural shift to being translated into retrograde policies with worldwide detrimental impact, is quite another. And that would be unforgivable. Budget cuts for basic science and research must be opposed with the same vigor as was Obamacare, if not more.
4
"Gubmint" funding for science pays enormous dividends. This happens when government directly pays for the research (think: DAPRA and GPS satellites) or pays to create and maintain programs that increase the number and scope of STEM students in colleges and universities. These scholars will gravitate to centers of excellence in research such as Bell Labs in New Jersey which gave us transistors (computers), lasers (CD players), CCDs (video cameras) and many of the operating systems to run these modern items we now take for granted.
Conservatives always want to drag out Solyndra as the prime example of wasteful spending and they do so tapping on the keyboard of the computers with the operating systems all started with governmental support. Even in 1852, it was the government of New York City and New York State which underwrote the creation of the 1853 exhibition in New York City which ignited the career of Elisha Otis who demonstrated his safety elevator there making skyscrapers possible. But for government, Trump Tower would be a five story walk-up.
STEM investments by government matter, Mr. Trump. A lot.
Conservatives always want to drag out Solyndra as the prime example of wasteful spending and they do so tapping on the keyboard of the computers with the operating systems all started with governmental support. Even in 1852, it was the government of New York City and New York State which underwrote the creation of the 1853 exhibition in New York City which ignited the career of Elisha Otis who demonstrated his safety elevator there making skyscrapers possible. But for government, Trump Tower would be a five story walk-up.
STEM investments by government matter, Mr. Trump. A lot.
6
"...[Trump's] first budget blueprint is a cramped document that sacrifices American innovation to small-bore politics, shortchanging basic scientific research across the government...in ways that can only stifle invention and undercut the nation’s competitiveness."
The thing about big science is that you can't shut it down and start it up again without doing damage to research programs that take long-term commitment and stewardship. Science doesn't work like a hotel that you shut down for renovations. There are human beings who understand their data and where the next step in a study needs to go; living tissue cultures that you can't put in the fridge and forget; and, environments fragile enough that a lag in stewardship is devastating (Flint Michigan or the Chesapeake Bay).
Budget cuts would be synergistically devastating.
Moreover, it is crazy to think that individual states are going to have the funds and leadership to carry on programs of scientific inquiry and environmental action across state lines that nature does not recognize and that humans cannot reasonably navigate in our calcified federal system.
Reducing science funding seems like a colossal waste of money, ideas and scientific talent, in both the short and long runs.
The thing about big science is that you can't shut it down and start it up again without doing damage to research programs that take long-term commitment and stewardship. Science doesn't work like a hotel that you shut down for renovations. There are human beings who understand their data and where the next step in a study needs to go; living tissue cultures that you can't put in the fridge and forget; and, environments fragile enough that a lag in stewardship is devastating (Flint Michigan or the Chesapeake Bay).
Budget cuts would be synergistically devastating.
Moreover, it is crazy to think that individual states are going to have the funds and leadership to carry on programs of scientific inquiry and environmental action across state lines that nature does not recognize and that humans cannot reasonably navigate in our calcified federal system.
Reducing science funding seems like a colossal waste of money, ideas and scientific talent, in both the short and long runs.
7
The proposed Trump budget cuts to government funding of science is an important story, but it is only part of the story – and maybe not the most important part.
The appointment of cabinet members with track records of anti-science bias or complete lack of familiarity with scientific issues signifies a general assault on science. The most glaring may be Scott Pruitt at the E.P.A., but Rick Perry at Energy and Betsy DeVos at Education are not far behind.
Career experts at agencies and departments headed by Trump appointees are being marginalized and muffled, if not kicked out of their jobs.
And, let’s stop running quotes of lofty words by Peter Thiel. He is an embarrassment to himself and to Silicon Valley
The appointment of cabinet members with track records of anti-science bias or complete lack of familiarity with scientific issues signifies a general assault on science. The most glaring may be Scott Pruitt at the E.P.A., but Rick Perry at Energy and Betsy DeVos at Education are not far behind.
Career experts at agencies and departments headed by Trump appointees are being marginalized and muffled, if not kicked out of their jobs.
And, let’s stop running quotes of lofty words by Peter Thiel. He is an embarrassment to himself and to Silicon Valley
5
Who needs science when we can have a Big Fence instead?
I just don't know if Trump doesn't understand why research is important - he has a tendency to believe more in tin-foil hat theories than in peer-reviewed science- or if he believes, despite recent evidence to the contrary, that the private sector will invest.
He will go down in history as the President that ceded scientific advanced to the Chinese in order to build a fence that forces people to go around it to come into the country.
Trump isn't short sighted. He is blind. We can't cure that, yet. Not without research.
I just don't know if Trump doesn't understand why research is important - he has a tendency to believe more in tin-foil hat theories than in peer-reviewed science- or if he believes, despite recent evidence to the contrary, that the private sector will invest.
He will go down in history as the President that ceded scientific advanced to the Chinese in order to build a fence that forces people to go around it to come into the country.
Trump isn't short sighted. He is blind. We can't cure that, yet. Not without research.
5
To have any chance of changing the priorities of this Administration, one needs to accept the fundamental motivation for everything the so-called President actually supports. It is, quite simply, testosterone. The military, Mars, and money are all macho. The environment, health care, and knowledge are not. Of course, all of the latter have significant impacts on the former. The challenge for the science community is to make these connections in the simplest way possible. However, simplicity is not something most scientists excel in. We need the help of marketers, and the test audience should ideally be 13-year old boys.
Sincerely, and sadly,
Mike L. Perry
R&D Engineer
Sincerely, and sadly,
Mike L. Perry
R&D Engineer
6
The Republican Party's war on science isn't only being directed by Donald Trump. There are two other important GOP factions that don't have much use for science:
1) Fundamentalist Christians and their allies, like Ben Carson (believes the earth was created not long ago, as calculated from the Book of Genesis, and that the Egyptian pyramids were used to store grain) and Mike Pence (wants "intelligent design," or creationism, taught in public schools to challenge the theory of evolution).
2) All the businessmen and corporations that trade in fossil fuels, who don't much like emission regulations, deny scientists' explanations for global warming, and love the sight of a working oil derrick, a big smokestack, a fracking station, or a hill in Appalachia that's been sheared off to get to the coal.
It's ironic that the fundamentalist Christians deny the reality of the fossil record captured in shale and limestone, while Republican entrepreneurs trade in fossil fuels, deposited in the distant past and compacted over time.
1) Fundamentalist Christians and their allies, like Ben Carson (believes the earth was created not long ago, as calculated from the Book of Genesis, and that the Egyptian pyramids were used to store grain) and Mike Pence (wants "intelligent design," or creationism, taught in public schools to challenge the theory of evolution).
2) All the businessmen and corporations that trade in fossil fuels, who don't much like emission regulations, deny scientists' explanations for global warming, and love the sight of a working oil derrick, a big smokestack, a fracking station, or a hill in Appalachia that's been sheared off to get to the coal.
It's ironic that the fundamentalist Christians deny the reality of the fossil record captured in shale and limestone, while Republican entrepreneurs trade in fossil fuels, deposited in the distant past and compacted over time.
4
Trump makes a convenient boogyman but these are not Trump policies. The polices represent the long held goals of the Republican party. Trump know as little about the details and implications of "his" budget as he did about the details and implications of "Trump Care". The best thing that could happen would be for congressional Democrats to reach out to Trump and offer him an alternative to the most retrograde elements of his own party. There is possibility for common ground. Unfortunately that is unlikely to happen as the Democrats, like the Times editorial board, would prefer scoring points in the free throw.
1
This article subtly perpetuates the contemp for science that motivats the Trump administration by putting emphasis on the practical applications of scientific discoveries. It is as if science needed to justify its existence by pandering to the immediate needs and desires of the "poorly educated". In fact, pursuit of knowledge and understanding is a good in itself. Theoretical science is not a handmaiden iof applied technology. Quantum mechanics does not exist to make better GPS. Molecular biology does not need to point to cure for diseases to justify its funding. Of course, pure science produces huge side benefits in the shape of practical application but the real reason for science to exist is to increase our understanding of the universe and of our place in it, not to make better smartphones .
4
Working at a research university (for many years, although i am in the arts) the change i have seen in the last 5 years has been a flood of venture capitalists like vultures hanging around the university waiting for the next innovation they can capitalize on. Corporate interests sponsor labs and research projects that they can not afford to do alone. Without the NSF- there would be little innovation initiation as the private sector will not pursue what is not substantiated by this progenitor/research promise. My university is filled with a large population of foreign students from India and Asian countries going into the tech and research fields and they are in part funding the university where our republican run state (Texas) has cut back. Making America great again by not funding a strong public school system here in the science, math and the creative fields will defeat our ability to initiate innovation and compete on a global scale, which yes, last time i checked - it is a global world.
3
How does research at the NIH make us a global healthcare leader?
The US spends an unsustainable 18% of GDP on healthcare, and ranks very low in terms of health outcomes. Maybe instead of researching more expensive solutions to obscure diseases, the NIH should focus on making the US healthier without bankrupting us in the process.
How I see it (and maybe the NIH needs to do a better job selling itself), I the tax payer fund academics to research a range of medical technologies. The academics publish the work, so that for-profit companies can use the research to develop expensive new "cures" (that rarely work better than the old medication, but cost 50x more due to a fancy name), but universally charge me an arm and a leg to cover 'their' R&D cost, while the rest of the world gets the medicine for a fraction the cost.
Is this what we call leadership? If the NIH were such a leader, the royalties on their patent portfolio should make them a profit center for the tax payers.
As a research engineer working for a large company, I have lead DoE programs to improve fuel economy. During the great recession, the funding was pretty important, but I would rather have $1 of my shareholders money to pay for my research than $2 of tax payer funding. I will do more to reduce full consumption and make the shareholders more profit with unrestricted R&D than the very beaurocratic government funded programs.
I don't feel like I am getting a good return on my taxpayer investment.
The US spends an unsustainable 18% of GDP on healthcare, and ranks very low in terms of health outcomes. Maybe instead of researching more expensive solutions to obscure diseases, the NIH should focus on making the US healthier without bankrupting us in the process.
How I see it (and maybe the NIH needs to do a better job selling itself), I the tax payer fund academics to research a range of medical technologies. The academics publish the work, so that for-profit companies can use the research to develop expensive new "cures" (that rarely work better than the old medication, but cost 50x more due to a fancy name), but universally charge me an arm and a leg to cover 'their' R&D cost, while the rest of the world gets the medicine for a fraction the cost.
Is this what we call leadership? If the NIH were such a leader, the royalties on their patent portfolio should make them a profit center for the tax payers.
As a research engineer working for a large company, I have lead DoE programs to improve fuel economy. During the great recession, the funding was pretty important, but I would rather have $1 of my shareholders money to pay for my research than $2 of tax payer funding. I will do more to reduce full consumption and make the shareholders more profit with unrestricted R&D than the very beaurocratic government funded programs.
I don't feel like I am getting a good return on my taxpayer investment.
2
This is crazy. Our 50 year old son just died from a rare liver disease (PSC - Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis ) complicated by a fairly common MRSA infection. Both illnesses desperately need more research and development - a cure. Other dear friends are suffering from forms of cancer that are on the cusp of breaking cures. But this research is likely to be underfunded or unfunded. Cutting budgets to save lives of people we dearly love is NOT what the American people want. Yet, Trump's proposed budget " ... proposes to whack 18 percent from the N.I.H.’s budget, and even more from the Department of Energy and the E.P.A.’s science programs. A $250 million annual grant program administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “supporting coastal and marine management, research and education” would be killed, including programs that provide important resources to help coastal states prepare for the coming effects of climate change (no surprise there, since Mr. Trump doesn’t believe in climate change). The earth sciences division at NASA comes in for a 6 percent cut; other reductions take aim at the United States Geological Survey and the National Science Foundation, a big player in scientific research." These next few years may become known as the Dark Ages of scientific research.
6
If science and engineering drive so much economic activity why doesn't Wall Street and the mythical "Free Market" fund research that can then be licensed and marketed to third parties?
I am no Trump supporter, but am more than a little tired of public money driving research that results in privatized profit. If the American people fund your research, we should get and keep the patent rights- and reap the financial rewards instead of big Pharma.
The same is true for the arts. If big money is made licensing Sesame Street likenesses, why should a dime of public money go to the producers of Sesame Street? Why should I have to pay admission to see art works underwritten by public money?
I did not vote for Trump, do not support him and think his Presidency will be a tragedy in many ways. But it is way past time big science and the arts got off the welfare rolls. If Joe Biden wants a Moonshot against Cancer, he should gather funding on Wall Street and set up a fund designed to perform the research, develop the treatments and then market them for a profit. I'm not being harsh as I watched my own Mother die a miserable death of Multiple Myeloma last year.
I am a Progressive and supported Senator Sanders in last year's election, but think way too much of what we spend in public money on research and the humanities should be redirected elsewhere. If there is merit in the research let the capital markets fund it and let the profits be shared among the investors.
I am no Trump supporter, but am more than a little tired of public money driving research that results in privatized profit. If the American people fund your research, we should get and keep the patent rights- and reap the financial rewards instead of big Pharma.
The same is true for the arts. If big money is made licensing Sesame Street likenesses, why should a dime of public money go to the producers of Sesame Street? Why should I have to pay admission to see art works underwritten by public money?
I did not vote for Trump, do not support him and think his Presidency will be a tragedy in many ways. But it is way past time big science and the arts got off the welfare rolls. If Joe Biden wants a Moonshot against Cancer, he should gather funding on Wall Street and set up a fund designed to perform the research, develop the treatments and then market them for a profit. I'm not being harsh as I watched my own Mother die a miserable death of Multiple Myeloma last year.
I am a Progressive and supported Senator Sanders in last year's election, but think way too much of what we spend in public money on research and the humanities should be redirected elsewhere. If there is merit in the research let the capital markets fund it and let the profits be shared among the investors.
3
This is yet another example of American intellectualism's "Death by a thousand cuts". The other consequence of these actions by the anti-science fools is the real threat of destruction of our planet and the life on it. Lack of progress and investment in the knowledge and tools to stand against disease and the harms that we face, have the real potential, to end us all. They will create a self fulfilling prophecy so that their faith in God is justified. The danger that these people represent is no small matter. They have been working toward this and now have the tools and their hands on the levers to make it happen. We need to vote people. In large numbers. The risk is growing by the day.
7
In its essence, science has always been the search for the "truth" which, like art, is often disturbing and inconvenient as Al Gore has said. But human progress needs the truth just as the body requires food to sustain itself. However, what we discover to be truthful may also upend our cherished beliefs and sometimes is disturbing to industry, religion and to the individual. That CO2 emissions are causing severe damage to our environment is incontrovertibly true but that realization is also a threat to the oil and coal industries which have hired shill "scientists" to deny those facts.
Science also requires minds that are curious and receptive to new information. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump is probably our most incurious president and seems unable to sort out the truth from his own fantasies. When faced with truths he is unable to accept he not only denies these but summarily replaces such verities with his own fictions, just like those who deny evolution replace it with the "fake news" of creationism.
Thus, it is no surprise that our Denier-and-Chief wants to cut funding to science research, the arts, NPR and other means by which the truth is disseminated.
Science also requires minds that are curious and receptive to new information. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump is probably our most incurious president and seems unable to sort out the truth from his own fantasies. When faced with truths he is unable to accept he not only denies these but summarily replaces such verities with his own fictions, just like those who deny evolution replace it with the "fake news" of creationism.
Thus, it is no surprise that our Denier-and-Chief wants to cut funding to science research, the arts, NPR and other means by which the truth is disseminated.
4
Come on, at least 40% of Americans are convinced that the universe is only 6000 years old. That stupidity, created in part by the destruction of K-12 over the last decades, and the ascendancy of evangelicalism, will guarantee that America will not only never be "great again", is on a fast train to a third world economy. I'm a retired geologist, and can't see a positive effect of all this as long as Americans continue to destroy education, witness DeVos as Secretary of Education.
11
When the United States was actively involved in a space program, it developed, among other innovations, computers, fostering medical advances and an industry that has been the saving of our economy. When the federal government actively funded medical research, it aided in the development of vaccines that have saved countless lives. The United States may not have eradicated cancer, as President Nixon had hoped, but it made some headway.
For over two decades now, we have decreased funding to science.
We have stopped the space program, medicine has been hijacked by pharmaceutical companies that charge $30,000 for single doses of needed drugs, and our American healthcare lags behind that of any other Western power.
(Does no one remember how New York City, among other large urban areas, used to stink? After a weekend in the country, you smelled the city before you actually drove into it.)
We can't even get the politicians in Louisiana to use science in order to keep their shorelines from eroding and flooding. They'd rather the federal government pay to rebuild their coastal towns after storms than raise taxes to prevent the damage in the first place.
Such stupid, suicidal shortsightedness.
We can thank the religious right, enemy of education. They're no better than Muslim clerics who like to keep the peasantry in a state of depraved ignorance; for that's what, as indicated by the election of Donald Trump, we've come to.
For over two decades now, we have decreased funding to science.
We have stopped the space program, medicine has been hijacked by pharmaceutical companies that charge $30,000 for single doses of needed drugs, and our American healthcare lags behind that of any other Western power.
(Does no one remember how New York City, among other large urban areas, used to stink? After a weekend in the country, you smelled the city before you actually drove into it.)
We can't even get the politicians in Louisiana to use science in order to keep their shorelines from eroding and flooding. They'd rather the federal government pay to rebuild their coastal towns after storms than raise taxes to prevent the damage in the first place.
Such stupid, suicidal shortsightedness.
We can thank the religious right, enemy of education. They're no better than Muslim clerics who like to keep the peasantry in a state of depraved ignorance; for that's what, as indicated by the election of Donald Trump, we've come to.
13
The Russians own our Executive Branch and this is their war. They want to weaken America, take it to its knees, and dulling the edge of our scientific brilliance is just one tactic.
An educated, intelligent people who elect caring representatives would revolt against the oligarch class, the people behind Putin and his evil, so the intelligence and education must go.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
An educated, intelligent people who elect caring representatives would revolt against the oligarch class, the people behind Putin and his evil, so the intelligence and education must go.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
3
Why do Americans vote for a party that: (a) hates women and everything non-Anglo Saxon, and non-Christian, (b) resorts to war on flimsy evidence, (c) hates education, science, education, and evidence, (d) includes large factions that resemble the Taliban (er., the Christian Right) and favor segregation and slavery? Why is America on the road to becoming a duck dynasty coupled with the every excess of the dark ages? The hypotheses I derive are disconcerting, but may deserve additional thinking.
Hypothesis 1: Half the country aspires to a free life of a parasite, and they find the republican promise of delivering a free ride at the expense of people they don't like (women, educated, browns and blacks) too heady to pass up.
Hypothesis 2. Democrats are weak, disorganized cowards who define the republican bacterial-viral infection as benign, and reach for a bumper sticker (that yap about bipartisan this and that) instead of brandishing a harsh antibiotic. I.e., they cannot bring a gun to a gun fight.
Hypothesis 3. The bad is stronger than the good, evil is the default option, and the American voter is stupid.
These hypotheses are easily derived from current evidence.
Horribly disconcerting, all.
Kalidan
Hypothesis 1: Half the country aspires to a free life of a parasite, and they find the republican promise of delivering a free ride at the expense of people they don't like (women, educated, browns and blacks) too heady to pass up.
Hypothesis 2. Democrats are weak, disorganized cowards who define the republican bacterial-viral infection as benign, and reach for a bumper sticker (that yap about bipartisan this and that) instead of brandishing a harsh antibiotic. I.e., they cannot bring a gun to a gun fight.
Hypothesis 3. The bad is stronger than the good, evil is the default option, and the American voter is stupid.
These hypotheses are easily derived from current evidence.
Horribly disconcerting, all.
Kalidan
5
This is not just the Trump administration's war. It's the entire Republican party that is anti-science, and much of that is because of religious dogma of the extreme right. Science and religion have never agreed, starting with the whole creation myth and the ridiculous notion that some day there will be a judgement day and all that folderol.
Take religion out of he equation and there would be less opposition to the advances in science that have eradicated so many of the world pandemics.
Take religion out of he equation and there would be less opposition to the advances in science that have eradicated so many of the world pandemics.
12
One of the "illnesses that have always plagued" America democracy is the prosperity-religion default. The People re-purposed the Divine Right of Kings for themselves. Trump is actually a religious figure, Narcissism made rich, and therefore blessed.
Prosperity-Evangelical Paula White is his personal spiritual advisor. It can't be made any clearer than that.
Science is ruthlessly accountable at its best. Dreams are not its end point. No wonder Science funding gets cut. Hard empirical facts are not a welcome dessert for the transcendental mind and its ontological pudding defaults, whether served hot, or cold.
Prosperity-Evangelical Paula White is his personal spiritual advisor. It can't be made any clearer than that.
Science is ruthlessly accountable at its best. Dreams are not its end point. No wonder Science funding gets cut. Hard empirical facts are not a welcome dessert for the transcendental mind and its ontological pudding defaults, whether served hot, or cold.
4
This budget reflects the GOTP hit parade, but bears no resemblance to reality, and poses a grave, existential threat to all of us. Don the Con is looking for self enrichment, and anything on that hit parade that furthers his personal wealth is fine with him. If it allows him to attack his African American, urbane, witty and intelligent predecessor, he is all in. This is the equivalent of living in a Lewis Carroll novel, where up is down, black is white, 1 = 1 equals 5, and the Mad Hatters Tea Party rules the roost. When an entire party is wedded to denying scientific facts and medical reality, waging endless war, defense contractor profiteering, and pretending that tax cuts are the universal antidote to every single issue confronting the nation, we the people may rest assured that we will be left at the bottom of the off ramp, while the wealthy speed past us. We deserve to be the laughingstock of the world - we will experience massive brain drain, when we should be in the vanguard of technology and research advances. Don the Con and his entire odious band of tools, ideologues, demagogues, and liars will destroy this nation if we do not stop them. 9:12 AM
9
During the start of the campaign in 2015, Trump indicated that he was interested in sending people to Mars, but not at the expense of funding infrastructure at home. Last week Trump signed a bill specifically authorizing $19.5 billion for NASA, which includes long-term support for a human mission to Mars. The bill received bipartisan support. Other large-expenditure items such as the ISS and the James Webb Space Telescope, to be launched next year, will continue to be supported. This is all good news for the United States in terms of promoting scientific progress and for national prestige.
That said, hopefully Congress will modify the budget so this funding does not cut into the important work of monitoring Earth with respect to climate change and medical research. The money allocated to NASA will be about one-half of one percent of the overall federal budget, about nine times lower than at the peak of the Apollo program.
Surely some of the funds being directed to the military and the Wall could be put to better use in rebuilding such domestic infrastructure as roads, bridges, and communication and green energy grids, while also supporting the health of our planet and our population at large. We certainly need to keep vitality and optimism alive by promoting futuristic endeavors, but not without losing sight of our more pragmatic necessities. We can do it all, and it is incumbent on Congress to help pave the way by rationally engaging in the budget process.
That said, hopefully Congress will modify the budget so this funding does not cut into the important work of monitoring Earth with respect to climate change and medical research. The money allocated to NASA will be about one-half of one percent of the overall federal budget, about nine times lower than at the peak of the Apollo program.
Surely some of the funds being directed to the military and the Wall could be put to better use in rebuilding such domestic infrastructure as roads, bridges, and communication and green energy grids, while also supporting the health of our planet and our population at large. We certainly need to keep vitality and optimism alive by promoting futuristic endeavors, but not without losing sight of our more pragmatic necessities. We can do it all, and it is incumbent on Congress to help pave the way by rationally engaging in the budget process.
8
Let me clarify: Going to Mars will be prestigious for Trump. But Mars will *never* be a lifeboat if we mess up Earth. So if we do not properly fund climate research for our planet, the gains in getting to Mars will be moot. Still, Mars is important for public morale. Also, NIH funding is critical because pure research is driven by government funding, the results then being transferred to the profit-driven private sector.
My main point is that we should not be trading off funding in one science area for another science area -- all science is important -- instead, take money from the many ridiculous things Trump is funding, like the Wall and more nukes (or not funding the IRS, which gets up to a 10x return on investing in it) -- and publicly fund *all* science adequately!
The private sector generally does not want to invest in pure research because there is not enough profit in it. The government needs to do it. It needs to do it because it is fundamentally important. Why is that?
"The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them." -- Sir William Henry Bragg (1862-1942)
My main point is that we should not be trading off funding in one science area for another science area -- all science is important -- instead, take money from the many ridiculous things Trump is funding, like the Wall and more nukes (or not funding the IRS, which gets up to a 10x return on investing in it) -- and publicly fund *all* science adequately!
The private sector generally does not want to invest in pure research because there is not enough profit in it. The government needs to do it. It needs to do it because it is fundamentally important. Why is that?
"The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them." -- Sir William Henry Bragg (1862-1942)
2
This editorial is yet another friendly reminder that Donald Trump and his right-wing, Republican appeals to cultured ignorance remain a clear and present danger to:
America
Americans
Science
Progress
The Climate
Medicine
Human Intelligence
Truth
Evidence
Empirical Data
Knowledge
The National IQ
Public Safety
Basic Contraception
Modernity
The World
The Human Species
Human Decency
His campaign and his Presidency Are Making America Illiterate Again, just like we were in the 'good old days', a guaranteed recipe for medievalism.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
― Isaac Asimov
Donald Trump 2017: Make The Earth Flat Again
America
Americans
Science
Progress
The Climate
Medicine
Human Intelligence
Truth
Evidence
Empirical Data
Knowledge
The National IQ
Public Safety
Basic Contraception
Modernity
The World
The Human Species
Human Decency
His campaign and his Presidency Are Making America Illiterate Again, just like we were in the 'good old days', a guaranteed recipe for medievalism.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
― Isaac Asimov
Donald Trump 2017: Make The Earth Flat Again
117
Spot on Socrates. When you vote stupid, you get stupid.
3
What should we expect of a virtual cult of sadism and selfishness? Today's Republican Party is a cabal of the most ill-bred, ignorant, uneducated, narcissistic, superstitious people in the so-called "first world." My Republican ancestors, all of whom had advanced degrees, were ardently anti-racist, and lifelong environmentalists? They would have set their dogs on this gang.
13
To make the irony more stunning...Trump's uncle was John G. Trump, an MIT engineer and scientist, and member of the National Academy of Engineering, noted as "a pioneer in the scientific, engineering and medical applications of high voltage machinery." The apple has fallen far from the tree.
5
Mr. Thiel, like many libertarians, wants government to engage in big bold ventures like "...The Manhattan Project, the Interstate Highway System, and the Apollo program".... but they don't want to see their taxes raised because SOME of that tax money might be directed to programs that actually help people.
7
So when the next pandemic hits the United States, the darkened labs will be of no use. Mr. Trump thinks nothing of increasing an already bloated defense budget against unknown enemies, but the unseen enemy can be far deadlier. Surprise! Neither a wall nor a nuclear arsenal will defend you or the rest of the world.
Thanks to Mr. Trump and his Republican Congress, the US has abdicated its position as a world leader in almost every endeavour. The world will move on without America. and you will never regain your leadership.
Thanks to Mr. Trump and his Republican Congress, the US has abdicated its position as a world leader in almost every endeavour. The world will move on without America. and you will never regain your leadership.
12
Sounds like the President is just draining the swamp i.e. defunding the left and the alligators i.e. activists are worried about protecting their rice bowls.
When asked what all these government subsidies have accomplished all the Times can do is point to the Manhattan Project (1940s) and the highways (1950s).
When asked what all these government subsidies have accomplished all the Times can do is point to the Manhattan Project (1940s) and the highways (1950s).
3
Eric, add: mapping the human genome, Zika and Aids research, smart technology, climate research, space technology, ...
4
You forgot going to the moon, the invention of the Internet, etc. But I agree that since the GOP has equated Govt spending with original sin, we have given up dreaming for squabbling. Let the future tend to itself.
3
Peter has enough money to replace all those funds removed and still have more money than any one person needs. Put your money where your mouth is1 Oh yeah but he is moving to New Zealand!
5
When people who do not believe in good governance are put in charge, you deserve what happens.
11
Ironically, Trumpism and the anti-government "Freedom" Caucus seek to deconstruct the very institutions that made America great after World War II. In its determination to win the cold war, our federal government heavily funded education and research in math, science, and technology. Even the humanities benefited as money was pumped into literacy -- we dumped Dick and Jane and got The Cat in the Hat. Our universities became the best in the world, a beacon and a haven for international scholars.
Now we have a travel ban, budget cuts, and alternative facts at war with the truth. The earth is flat again, and the Greed-Over-People party is steering us over the edge.
Now we have a travel ban, budget cuts, and alternative facts at war with the truth. The earth is flat again, and the Greed-Over-People party is steering us over the edge.
14
Does the NYT have specific numbers for the National Science Foundation (NSF)? The original Trump budget did not have a line item for the NSF.
NSF funding is critical because it provides broad-based support for science, especially for graduate students who are the next generation of innovators and leaders.
NSF funding is critical because it provides broad-based support for science, especially for graduate students who are the next generation of innovators and leaders.
6
The positive spin-off borne by a well funded and promoted innovative research in basic/applied science go beyond the time/space matrix that can't be grasped by petty minds, nor captured by the budget accounting exercise. Trump shouldn't lose sight of this larger picture while axing the programmes like the PIH, or related to the environment, energy, earth/oceanic research, or NASA.
12
This is really a war on the results of scientific inquiry and research.
The GOP and TRump do not like the results of research on climate change and toxics in the environment.
Unable to attack the science, they attack the scientists and under fund science.
If essential science in the biomedical field is thwarted then so what corporate profits are more important.
This attitude is not unique to TRump.
The tobacco industry fought research on the health effects of smoking and attacked the science demonstrating this.
THe NRA has blocked research on gun safety.
During IKE's administration his Commerce Secy. , Weeks, attacked the National Bureau of Standards because their research showed a battery additive to be worthless. Weeks argues that the judgment of the market place was more important than the results of scientific tests.
The GOP and TRump do not like the results of research on climate change and toxics in the environment.
Unable to attack the science, they attack the scientists and under fund science.
If essential science in the biomedical field is thwarted then so what corporate profits are more important.
This attitude is not unique to TRump.
The tobacco industry fought research on the health effects of smoking and attacked the science demonstrating this.
THe NRA has blocked research on gun safety.
During IKE's administration his Commerce Secy. , Weeks, attacked the National Bureau of Standards because their research showed a battery additive to be worthless. Weeks argues that the judgment of the market place was more important than the results of scientific tests.
162
Trump's idea here matches other hyper-conservatives: let the market place determine everything. Have industry fund basic research, not the government. The problem is that doesn't work.
2
The NIH is vital to National Security because of the funding regarding biologic terrorist and the pandemic possibilities. This is notwithstanding death and disease, morbidity and mortlaity of the human in modern times.
107
Instead of bringing world peace and cooperation through science, Trump's budget reflects an interest is bringing peace to the world through war, which makes absolutely no sense.
88
it makes sense to the military-industrial complex and the politicians in its pocket, which are who he's doing it for.
2
Trump's budget reflects peace through strength.
His budget increase will refill the arsenals and warehouse of spare parts that were depleted under Obama.
His budget increase will refill the arsenals and warehouse of spare parts that were depleted under Obama.
Thanks so very much for this important editorial. Think you should follow up each month with editorials explaining (in layperson terms)the past progress and reasons why we need continued funding by the government for research on: disease,including mental health, climate/environment and the exploration of space. These issues must be kept on the forefront using so-called "repetition without irritation", to enhance understanding and support for the allocation of taxpayer dollars to these problems.
90
Maybe follow up each week, or every few days??? Most Americans, even Trump supporters, have enough good sense to understand that an all-out assault on science, medical research, environmental health, and the realities of climate change based only on "It's all fake" and "we need money for massive tax cuts for the wealthy" is some sort of Bannon/Pence/Mercer/Koch Boys/Ryan/McConnell scam that, if successful, can only hurt all of us today and tomorrow. Explain, educate, all the time, and in so doing be realistic and acknowledge the objections and try to discuss and evaluate them--it's, as djt so aptly noted about health insurance "complicated." But aren't the great majority of us capable of grasping things that are complicated and may involve very different perspectives? The NYT has a lot of work to do over and above preaching to its usual choir to fulfill its true journalistic mission as one of the world's leading news organizations.
I agree with you wholeheartedly! Great idea!
"We eat what we kill" is a very disturbing phrase from someone who works at a College of Physicians and Surgeons.
14
Agreed. It made me laugh.
1
Yes, it's the truth, life at its fundamental is a moral dilemma. Something must die in order that I might live. 1) I would like to see the context in which this scientist said this. 2) I don't see what this quote has to do the article
Jerry
Jerry
1
March for Science on Earth Day, April 22nd.
198
Let us hope that millions attend. We must repudiate the Neo-Republican Party or the nation will die.
2
Bring your whole family if possible. Marches are not just in DC.
https://www.marchforscience.com/
https://www.marchforscience.com/
2
How many more prehistoric ignoramuses and evolution rejects are going to be allowed to run America? This is systemic. The anti-science/anti-intellectual "movement" is entrenched, deified by media, and it spewed out in the 2016 election psychographic propaganda idiot-pocalypse. Any fool knows innovation made America and created the modern lifestyle. Anti-science is and anti-modernism is maiming it.
The added risk to this cluster is also a real danger - Scientists can't be expected to work in a medieval pigsty with their work being denigrated and devalued by duly elected gerbils. If the real advanced science leaves or bypasses America, the long term damage will be catastrophic.
The added risk to this cluster is also a real danger - Scientists can't be expected to work in a medieval pigsty with their work being denigrated and devalued by duly elected gerbils. If the real advanced science leaves or bypasses America, the long term damage will be catastrophic.
145
My daughter is now a post doc in neuroscience research. In her quest for a follow-on job as a professor, she tells me that she is now widening her search to include Canada and Europe.
5
What do you call modern lifestyle ?
Big cars, tall buildings,mass mono agriculture, mass illiterate cheap workers ?
There were only 5 % of Americans going to college after WWII .Now barely 20 % .
Big cars, tall buildings,mass mono agriculture, mass illiterate cheap workers ?
There were only 5 % of Americans going to college after WWII .Now barely 20 % .
Unfortunately your culture of neuroscience is also invading Europe like Apple,Amazon,Yahoo,Google,Starbucks,McDonald, etc...
A French professor of psychiatry has declared that the American neuroscience ideology has set back 200 years of French and German psychiatry and philosophy.
A French professor of psychiatry has declared that the American neuroscience ideology has set back 200 years of French and German psychiatry and philosophy.
It is the religious Right (Pence) and others who are still stuck in the theism of the Agricultural Revolution and will not accept the fact that Man has made himself THE force causing change on this Planet. They are fighting back to hang on. “Radical Islam” has given them cover for now, but once the Scientific and Digital Revolutions make their way into the Islamic World, then there will be no more “enemy”. And, by that time the Institutional Shareholders will have forced everyone to accept the fact that man made insults to the Planet are not acceptable corporate governance. At that point the theists will be stuck in the past, on their own island.
41
Interesting that Islam was on the cutting edge of math and science before it devolved into the internecine mess it's in now.
Looks like dt, and the gop along with him, is taking us in that same abysmal direction.
Looks like dt, and the gop along with him, is taking us in that same abysmal direction.
3
I love your lead in paragraph. "Narrow minded" and "small bore politics" certainly characterizes this administration's approach to a lot of things.
39
Funding for the program that currently has kept the Asian Carp from entering the Great Lakes at Chicago is scheduled to be reduced or eliminated.
A commercial market for the fish and construction and maintenance of electric barriers had been subsidized by funds from the EPA.
I selfishly have used an example that affects my own area but penny wise pound-foolish spending cuts will have the same general effect across the country.
A commercial market for the fish and construction and maintenance of electric barriers had been subsidized by funds from the EPA.
I selfishly have used an example that affects my own area but penny wise pound-foolish spending cuts will have the same general effect across the country.
139
Exactly. The so-called man of the people would set us on a path to destroy everything that makes the planet livable and enduring for the people. Air, water and food are essential to life in case anybody in Washington does not know.
What are we leaving for the future generations if we go back into the dark ages?
What are we leaving for the future generations if we go back into the dark ages?
3
Many years ago, the historian Richard Hofstadter wrote about the impact of anti-intellectualism on American society and culture. The democratic notion that elites, political or intellectual, posed a threat to equality convinced many Americans that reliance on leaders who possessed expertise or experience could undermine a free society. Hence the recurrent popularity of outsiders in politics, men who boasted that their very lack of credentials would enable them to serve the common people better than professional politicians could.
In popular culture as well, the "pointy-headed intellectual" often confronted hostility and ridicule in a society that feared the power of his expert knowledge. After WWII, the impact of science on military security and economic growth altered the image of the intellectual, but the old suspicions lingered. The astonishing conversion of the GOP into something akin to an anti-science party reflects the persisting tension in the American mind between the need for expertise and the fear of the power that accompanies mastery of abstruse knowledge.
Industrialists whose profits confront a threat from the findings of science, especially with respect to the impact of their production methods on the environment, willingly finance politicians who pander to popular anxieties about the influence of academic researchers. Thus Trump belongs to an authentic line of American politicians, who can trace their heritage to the early Republic.
In popular culture as well, the "pointy-headed intellectual" often confronted hostility and ridicule in a society that feared the power of his expert knowledge. After WWII, the impact of science on military security and economic growth altered the image of the intellectual, but the old suspicions lingered. The astonishing conversion of the GOP into something akin to an anti-science party reflects the persisting tension in the American mind between the need for expertise and the fear of the power that accompanies mastery of abstruse knowledge.
Industrialists whose profits confront a threat from the findings of science, especially with respect to the impact of their production methods on the environment, willingly finance politicians who pander to popular anxieties about the influence of academic researchers. Thus Trump belongs to an authentic line of American politicians, who can trace their heritage to the early Republic.
101
If they attack science, let them go to faith healers when they come down with a serious disease.
5
The War on Science alongside his War on Truth and the War on Education is part of a plan promulgated by Bannon to widen the Republican base and please the Corporate Community. The only reason Trump came out for space exploration is that it might give him a chance to play at the controls of a space shuttle just like he did in the cab of the Mack truck last week.
39
If we could shoot Trump into space never to return, I'd go for that.
6
Belief in scientific and technological progress waxes and wanes in all societies. After WWII, America and the rest of the world were in the highly devout stage of the relationship, we are now in an period where there is more focus on the other edge of this sword.
Those with deep religious beliefs that contradict scientific belief have always worked to hold science and technology back, at least in areas that conflict with the superstitious components of their religion. Such people are a strong and powerful segment of the Republican party today.
When you believe the fate of the world and mankind s securely held in God's hands and that the only important responsibility of man is to follow God's will- that the only truly important world lies in the hereafter, why would you be a supporter of scientific development?
For the less religious, perhaps the failures of technology to improve their own lives has made them less supportive of investing their taxes in scientific research.
Those with deep religious beliefs that contradict scientific belief have always worked to hold science and technology back, at least in areas that conflict with the superstitious components of their religion. Such people are a strong and powerful segment of the Republican party today.
When you believe the fate of the world and mankind s securely held in God's hands and that the only important responsibility of man is to follow God's will- that the only truly important world lies in the hereafter, why would you be a supporter of scientific development?
For the less religious, perhaps the failures of technology to improve their own lives has made them less supportive of investing their taxes in scientific research.
12
Unless they are totally simple, the majority of voters in the Red States must fully agree with the GOP/Trump anti-science philosophy. It has been widely publicized and touted by those who write and broadcast the GOP slate of political objectives.
One would have to be deaf and blind not to have noticed that -- and yet note how the Red State Rubes voted and which party now controls both houses of Congress, The White House, The Supreme Court and 2/3 of our state legislatures.
One would have to be deaf and blind not to have noticed that -- and yet note how the Red State Rubes voted and which party now controls both houses of Congress, The White House, The Supreme Court and 2/3 of our state legislatures.
10
"rubes" "deplorables" "irredeemables' "bitter clingers"
And you wonder why Hillary lost?
And you wonder why Hillary lost?
The Human project has achieved its dominance through technology.
Technology proceeds to constant improvement through science.
We owe most of what we have to the scientific method that underpins both.
Those that want to disable this progress should be the first to demonstrate how convenient life without science can be by trying it themselves.
Maybe they're right and the stress of modern life can be discarded as they try living off the land in small tribal groups...decoupled from the benefits of modern technology.
Technology proceeds to constant improvement through science.
We owe most of what we have to the scientific method that underpins both.
Those that want to disable this progress should be the first to demonstrate how convenient life without science can be by trying it themselves.
Maybe they're right and the stress of modern life can be discarded as they try living off the land in small tribal groups...decoupled from the benefits of modern technology.
18
Did you know that the mathematics needed for medical imaging was developed with stimulus funding? The stimulus funding of 1794. In France. That year, post revolution, France started their `Grandes Ecoles', including the Ecole Polytechnique. The pure mathematicians hired and trained then became some of the most influential of all time: Cauchy, Lagrange, Poisson, and, finally Fourier, whose ideas about recreating unknown functions from definite integrals (measurable quantities) were turned into standard medical procedures 170 years later.
This is what government support for basic research gets you. There is no example in the history of mankind of this sort of work coming out of the private sector.
This is what government support for basic research gets you. There is no example in the history of mankind of this sort of work coming out of the private sector.
326
Bell Labs in its heyday produced incredible science. However the long-term research vision that made such creativity possible disappeared along with the telephone monopoly.
20
Bell Labs also created engaging, much-watched television programs that explained the wonders of science to a broad audience in entertaining ways. That's another component missing from today's society.
6
Not accurate. I worked for AT&T and marveled at the instructions given to Bell Labs scientists. Innovation proceeded to trademark and was then shelved to prevent enabling Ma Bell's competition. All that research sat in a badly catalogued library designed to obscure. Young scientists came and left over this as they watched their work put in a dark hole by non scientists some of whom did not understand the science. Corporatism at its best. AT&T's business plan was designed to hold back research and deployment to allow longer depreciation of "copper in the ground" not to mention the old PBXs (one of which held back Disney HQ and was subsequently moved to Palm Springs in the 1980s).
1
Suggestion. Have someone explain to the President the origin of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Keep it simple though. Don't want to clutter his mind with to many facts.
OK, where did that little mappy thing come from that's on your phone and the dashboard of the car? The "GOVERNMENT". They invested in this a long, long, time ago so their ships and satellites could find out where they are. And then they said let's give it to American business and see what they can do with it. Then Steve Jobs and others came along and walla!
Maybe if some folks explained to him that our government is one of the greatest innovators and actually helps big business to create jobs, he might have a different view.
OK, where did that little mappy thing come from that's on your phone and the dashboard of the car? The "GOVERNMENT". They invested in this a long, long, time ago so their ships and satellites could find out where they are. And then they said let's give it to American business and see what they can do with it. Then Steve Jobs and others came along and walla!
Maybe if some folks explained to him that our government is one of the greatest innovators and actually helps big business to create jobs, he might have a different view.
371
Military spending at the Navel Research Lab lead to the development of GPS. This might not be the example you are looking for, as it was not basic science R&D at universities that lead to GPS.
1
The Post Officer, DMV, Housing Projects - lots of innovation to see there.
1
Too complicated for his simple brain - like healthcare . Who knew?
3
Can't have both science and filthy air, replete with dangerous jobs....
So here's the calculation.... jettison the scientists in favor of those 'left behind', and their billionaire slave masters who buy politicians....
The 'civil war' hasn't ended... it just gets refreshed from time to time...
So here's the calculation.... jettison the scientists in favor of those 'left behind', and their billionaire slave masters who buy politicians....
The 'civil war' hasn't ended... it just gets refreshed from time to time...
24
There is also the second order effect of his visa and immigration crackdowns: Fewer brilliant PhDs will come to the US to study, preferring instead Canada or the UK. Then they won't stay on to be researchers or to work in the United States.
Growing up, I took it for granted that scientific leadership was one of the pillars that made America great. How can be great without it?
Growing up, I took it for granted that scientific leadership was one of the pillars that made America great. How can be great without it?
262
Already feeling that effect. One doctoral Program I know of was 65 percent international. Last month, all international applicants accepted into the Program rejected the offer in favor of Canada and the U.K. Huge loss of funding from international tuition rates and huge loss of diverse thinking that generates new knowledge and a better world.
115
for the love of America... get rid of trump before it's too late!
243
How?
Robbie:
1) Impeachment, or;
2) Constitutional removal due to mental deficiency, or;
3) Defeat of anything and everything his administration proposes for the next 3.8 years.
1) Impeachment, or;
2) Constitutional removal due to mental deficiency, or;
3) Defeat of anything and everything his administration proposes for the next 3.8 years.
1
This administration will fight against anything it cannot control or turn into private profit.
112
Both science and technology are entities that exist outside the US government, even outside America. Trump cannot acknowledge that many projects in technology and especially science don't yield to a corporations quarterly profit model. His attempt to privatize these projects will ultimately hurt the nation. Why? Because they don't belong to the nation. They belong, mostly, to whomever develops them first. For example, if Trump privatizes renewable energy development, and China goes with a public-private partnership model that was originally, and ironically, developed in America, then the new technology goes to whomever develops it fastest, and not to whomever polished his 'free market' bona fides while encouraging scientists to 'put profit first'.
35
Trump has allowed the Pence wing to run much of the legislative show in his administration. This has resulted in an ultra-conservative cabinet, a draconian, science-killing budget and perhaps the least popular healthcare legislation to ever see the light of day. A good portion of independent swing and "look the other way republican" voters who barely gave Trump an electoral college victory are not particularly thrilled. They don't see any real results from the Trump experiment so far, certainly nothing to justify continuing forgiveness for the institutional damage heaped upon the presidency almost daily. Exactly what political genius proudly announces massive cuts in cancer research before his administration even hits day sixty? How about one that surrounds himself with a HHS secretary and budget director who both oozed out of the very same mud pile as the Freedom Caucus? You know them Mr. President, it's that group who just slapped you in the face and stabbed you in the back at the same time. Hillary's barbs were kind to you, compared to what these guys secretly feel about you. I'd say watch your back, except it's probably too late.
57
So long as politicians fund science, science will be beholden to politicians. This is equivalent to letting your 3-yr old decide where to eat for dinner and to drive the car to get there.
6
Politicians don't fund anything. As long as the citizens of the United States fund science, then science will serve the interests of those citizens. When only corporations fund science, then all science will be corporate property.
44
What is your point? That science should not be funded by the government so that it can pursue what it wants? That sounds great. But who then does fund it? Corporations will not: they have too strong of a profit motive / shareholder obligation to support long term research. The days of Bell Labs, Xerox PARC are long gone and won't come back. As a scientist do I support my own work?? I'd love to. But let me tell you something: I don't have the money to. And it costs money. In the materials science field (without which your computer, your iPhone, the plane you fly in, the car you drive would not exist) a single research project these days scrapes by with very limited resources from the NSF @ $125,000 per year. I can't write that check (partly because it does - yes - pay salary for the researcher). So: who writes the check? Do we value science as a society or not?
And - by the way - the idea that science only does what the government wants is a false flag. Sure, there are programs like DARPA, and much of DOD funding that is driven by government needs. This will only grow under this proposed budget. The NIH, NSF, DOE Office of Science, NIST support work based on ideas that are driven by scientists. Not the government. Those are what Trump proposes to cut.
And - by the way - the idea that science only does what the government wants is a false flag. Sure, there are programs like DARPA, and much of DOD funding that is driven by government needs. This will only grow under this proposed budget. The NIH, NSF, DOE Office of Science, NIST support work based on ideas that are driven by scientists. Not the government. Those are what Trump proposes to cut.
16
My son is graduating from high school this year and from early on he and his classmates have been encourage to take all the science, computer and math classes they could handle. Now what? We send him off to college to get a degree that is devalued before he even starts? My hope is that his time in college will be long enough to wait out this lunacy but not likely. Sad when the only thing valued is an MBA and the ability to profit off the intellectual weight of other people. You make me sick donald trump!
172
Fear not for the career options for your son and his classmates. Scientific research will suffer under Trump but the economy still needs people with those skills. As I repeatedly tell friends who claim there are no good jobs, my office is hiring, but applicants need math and computer skills. Our top candidates are always immigrants at this point, though it would be easier for us to hire citizens.
4
The entire Republican Party which supports Trump makes me sick. He does not exist in a vacuum.
4
STEM education is so valuable and applies to much more than careers is science and basic biomedical research.
2
He may not like science, but he likes trucks. Isn"t it too bad that most Americans are against everything this administration is proposing. But here we are with President P.T. Barnum and United States of American suckers. I remember when it was just the arts that were hated, but now it's the arts and sciences. When do we start burning books?
228
And witches. Don't forget burning those terrorist witches, with them pointy hats and cauldrons and cats and all that.
Turning people into newts is un-American! Even if they get better.
Burn her anyway!
Turning people into newts is un-American! Even if they get better.
Burn her anyway!
7
Science and facts are this administration's enemy. If this is news to you, so is everything else.
56
Behold the contemporary Republican party and it's leader, president Trump, determined to drag America away from the light and back toward the dark ages.
26
I'm disappointed at the all-too-common preference for medical research over other research expressed in this editorial. Sure, health is important, but investing in the future is just as important.
52
What future????
2
When Rick Perry was made head of the department of energy, formally know as the Atomic Energy Commission, one could expect that science was not a top priority. When trump and his trumpettes deny climate change you know ignorance in this administration has run amuck.
126
Anyone who knows anything about discoveries and inventions in recent history knows that they do not come out of the private sector.
With very few exceptions, the only type of "innovation" which comes out of the private sector is the superficial variety ala Apple.
There is a reason for this. Research which could result in significant discoveries and inventions is simply too costly, uncertain and risky for private corporations to engage in.
So virtually everything - from computers to cell phones to the internet - has come out of the public sector (often through the defense department) or has been heavily subsidized by public money.
The pathology of our system is that while the public pays for their development, these discoveries are then handed over to private industry to make money off of - with no remuneration to the public till.
With very few exceptions, the only type of "innovation" which comes out of the private sector is the superficial variety ala Apple.
There is a reason for this. Research which could result in significant discoveries and inventions is simply too costly, uncertain and risky for private corporations to engage in.
So virtually everything - from computers to cell phones to the internet - has come out of the public sector (often through the defense department) or has been heavily subsidized by public money.
The pathology of our system is that while the public pays for their development, these discoveries are then handed over to private industry to make money off of - with no remuneration to the public till.
461
Yes....including innovations created by/for NASA and the Space Programs....hence GPS for one thing.....all funded by US taxpayer $, the tech is available to industry for free and then we pay top $ for their made in China products which we paid for to create. Hmmmm....something is wrong here. Royalties paid to the American people are in order perhaps? Pay fees from their profits into an educational fund to support altruistic Scientific innovation.....there needs to be an adjustment of these terms.
4
An important investment is also made by the federal government for research into developing new medicines.
"The pathology of our system is that while the public pays for their development, these discoveries are then handed over to private industry to make money off of - with no remuneration to the public till."
"The pathology of our system is that while the public pays for their development, these discoveries are then handed over to private industry to make money off of - with no remuneration to the public till."
7
Yes but see "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas J. Kuhn. Generally accepted scientific dogma can take on the trappings of faith and religion. Even though certain types of knowledge are uncertain and some theories are incomplete according to Werner Heisenberg and Kurt Godel.
1
What a surprise! Science, which requires aforethought has no priority in an administration whose attempt at Trumpcare had obviously little aforethought at all. Trumpcare will forever symbolize the lack of planning that goes into any of the many knee-jerk decisions trump and his posse have made.
20
Thank you for reporting Peter Thiel's praise for "government fostered- science" a week before the election of his "candidate" Donald Trump, but may we now know what he thinks of President Trump's science slashing budget. Perhaps Thiel has gone uncharacteristically quiet because he'e down in New Zealand buying more property.
32
Every time I am reminded of P. Thiel's "New Zealand escape pod", wondering if he is anticipating the end result of "scorched earth" and further defense buildup policies sought by this administration, I am reminded of Neville Shute's book "On The Beach" - with the current instabilities from N. Korea to Eastern Europe it is all the more frightening.
11
What's a better way to unite a nation than to bring the entire country down to the intellectual and cultural level of its fearless leader.
80
With climate change a hoax
Science is food for jokes
A tiny mind, who ignorance
Of true advances stokes.
Research to cure our ills
The blood of Don Trump chills
Cuts for the Rich the tactic which
Our faux POTUS fulfills.
The NASA throat he'll cut,
No if, no and, no but,
He will install a useless Wall,
While in his reckless rut.
Science is food for jokes
A tiny mind, who ignorance
Of true advances stokes.
Research to cure our ills
The blood of Don Trump chills
Cuts for the Rich the tactic which
Our faux POTUS fulfills.
The NASA throat he'll cut,
No if, no and, no but,
He will install a useless Wall,
While in his reckless rut.
37
Welcome back, Larry Eisenberg! I certainly missed your contributions.
3
First, of all, neither Trump or anyone else believes that his budget proposal will be approved. In context, it is largely a statement about what woud have to be done to save entitlements while restoring defense spending to 2010 levels. It should be compared to the sequester. There has got to be something better to do than making noise about cuts that aren't going to happen.
1
Yeah, Michjas, say nothing and watch the cuts go through. Very responsible.
30
Actually, Michjas, the budget is a statement of priorities. His priorities are clear: big tax cuts for the filthy rich and a blank check for the war machine. Nothing for the people; nothing for the future.
18
As the Catholic Church learned, if you make war on science, you will eventually wind up with egg on your face. Unfortunately, we can't afford to wait four centuries for the Republican Party to come around.
336
Trumps budget was not anything based on fact or thought but his typical bluster to feed Bannons 'unwashed masses! He reads from Obamas teleprompter, words printed for him, to gain his vaunted publicity.
6
Trump's assault on science, can be understood very easily; he's merely continuing to pander to the base of his political support -- which is dominated by white evangelicals, whose contempt for science, is, perhaps, the first thing they learn, when they read the Bible.
Because Eve ( the Christian's first female) ate from the "tree of knowledge" (science) all females, since then, are still being punished by the Christian god -- and one only has to review the GOP's current restless "war against the use of birth control" to verify this reality.
And there's also the science of evolution, that completely negates the reason for any creation myths ( such as written in the Bible)
The science of evolution, proves that every white Christian, is able ( via, DNA tests) to trace their ancestry -- back to African origins, which is the major reasons, many white people, will deny the fact of evolution, and be unable to come to grips with their socially-cancerous racism.
Because Eve ( the Christian's first female) ate from the "tree of knowledge" (science) all females, since then, are still being punished by the Christian god -- and one only has to review the GOP's current restless "war against the use of birth control" to verify this reality.
And there's also the science of evolution, that completely negates the reason for any creation myths ( such as written in the Bible)
The science of evolution, proves that every white Christian, is able ( via, DNA tests) to trace their ancestry -- back to African origins, which is the major reasons, many white people, will deny the fact of evolution, and be unable to come to grips with their socially-cancerous racism.
280
A common misconception. The forbidden tree was "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." When read properly, the meaning is entirely different from that most folks misunderstand.
2
Unfathomable at the dispute with established science body of work and knowledge. The fake magician continues to take us back to medieval thinking.
5
The Chinese government publicly (inside China) talks about a strategic plan to diminish America, such that it has no real presence west of Hawaii, and serves mainly as a source of raw materials for Chinese factories and of customers for Chinese products.
Russia likewise has shown in pretty much every way it can that it wants to exploit America's internal flaws to also diminish the leader of the free world, figuring that the less America becomes, the more Russia can be. And it serves Putin's goal of showing his citizens that a dictatorship-in-all-but-name like his trumps (so to speak) weak democracy.
Trump's--and the Republican Party leadership's--war on science, and on weakening the central government to enhance its grip on all the states the GOP controls--play into our enemies' hands perfectly.
If Trump isn't a mole in the pay of governments like China's and Russia's that are trying to cut us down to size...it's hard to concoct a rational explanation for Trump's actions, and the GOP's in general.
It's as if all of Trump's intelligence, interest, and curiosity are focused exclusively on real estate development, diddling anyone who trusts him, and on manipulating the roughly half of America that finds authoritarian populists like him attractive.
So there's no interest or curiosity left over for science. And obviously his bro Peter Thiel, who, as the article says, knows better, hasn't gotten through to Trump in the slightest.
And I thought Bush was incurious...
Russia likewise has shown in pretty much every way it can that it wants to exploit America's internal flaws to also diminish the leader of the free world, figuring that the less America becomes, the more Russia can be. And it serves Putin's goal of showing his citizens that a dictatorship-in-all-but-name like his trumps (so to speak) weak democracy.
Trump's--and the Republican Party leadership's--war on science, and on weakening the central government to enhance its grip on all the states the GOP controls--play into our enemies' hands perfectly.
If Trump isn't a mole in the pay of governments like China's and Russia's that are trying to cut us down to size...it's hard to concoct a rational explanation for Trump's actions, and the GOP's in general.
It's as if all of Trump's intelligence, interest, and curiosity are focused exclusively on real estate development, diddling anyone who trusts him, and on manipulating the roughly half of America that finds authoritarian populists like him attractive.
So there's no interest or curiosity left over for science. And obviously his bro Peter Thiel, who, as the article says, knows better, hasn't gotten through to Trump in the slightest.
And I thought Bush was incurious...
176
Trump in his amazing ignorance is doing all he can to dismantle decades of scientific research, scientific facts, Americas collaboration with the rest of the world to conquer disease, make life better for Americans and the rest of the world. He needs to go so we can clean up his mess.
11