flyboy wrote:hey i just want opinions, a billionaire filled a lab in every major city with tons of the most expensive machines, supplies, etc. and let anyone use it as they wanted, would it produce anything worthwhile for mankind?
If there were billion dollar lab installations in every major city equipped for all manner of research lots of people would come. So we'd have to set up a system to evaluate the applicants to select the ones with the greatest likelihood of success.
Wait. This is how it already is. Anybody who really wants to can go to work in just about any research lab. If you come up with a good idea and you sell it well the government will pay the bills.
flyboy wrote:
Are we being held back by the cost of progress?
Absolutely. So many excellent grants were not funded in 08
So far this year NIH grants have to be scored at a VERY high percentile to be funded. Risky grants get sacrificed. This is really bad in the long run because while risky science often fails it can lead to bigger breakthroughs when it works. Hopefully NIH and NSF get more dough in this years budget.
I'm not sure what the funding situation is like outside the US.
Still lots of room for students though. Students represent the cheapest labor in science
