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Presciense


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2019 Jan 1, 8:11am   1,673 views  4 comments

by Onvacation   ➕follow (3)   💰tip   ignore  

"research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present

and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system -- ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society"
Eisenhower

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1   NDrLoR   2019 Jan 1, 8:41am  

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says
This is the second Eisenhower prophesy from his 1961 address
The one that never gets quoted in Sec. IV:

"Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific/technological elite."
2   Onvacation   2019 Jan 4, 9:37am  

"Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.

But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs -- balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage -- balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration."
3   MisdemeanorRebel   2019 Jan 4, 10:03am  

NASA. We have an object not 3 days away, a fantastic testing ground, with countless tons of water ice whose exploitation as fuel and life support should be priority #1. And better we figure this out 2-3 days away where rescues and aborts are realistically possible, not other planets where no rescue is feasible. Nor is the distance expensive to cross, and we've done it with humans only equipped with analog telemetry several times before.

Instead, we build little probes and rovers, which are nice, but even if we found anything following up would be expensive launching direct from the deepest Gravity Well in the solar system.

That's because the Hunt For Life has taken precedence over all other aspects of Space Exploration and Exploitation.

Hopefully, though, things are changing under the new administration.
4   Ceffer   2019 Jan 4, 10:11am  

Most 'real' progressive discoveries tend to be a random walk, or disparate and seemingly irrelevant data coming together in unpredictable ways under unpredictable circumstances. Most programmed research is for killing the fuck out of our fellow man in a better technologic manner. The spinoffs may or may not benefit technology in general.

Any progressive discovery that threatens the status quo of government control, economic control or control of the superstitions of the masses will be suppressed, unless it can also be controlled and economically exploited.

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