Tuesday, July 7, 2009
- government should fund research
While it may SEEM sensible for government to fund scientific research in the "greater interest" of society, there are several problems that arise. First, how do you define the "greater interest"? Should it really be up to a few beaurocrats in government to make this decision? When government funds research it skews the research community towards the fields which it funds. Second, sure, some funding may seem beneficial, such as curing cancer. Others its debateable. For example in a lab I worked at, DARPA was funding research into brain-machine interfaces; a technology which is quite far from having any practical use. Does it really make sense for Joe Sixpack to have to pay for my esoteric research? What will he get out of it.. It makes more sense that the Free Market drives research innovation, as it is the best predictor of what is in the "greater interest" of society at large.
