It isn't us that is doing the squeezing on science. It is squeezing our money.
Quit your complaining, Dad. I was a government scientist for several years. Here's the stuff you
don't know:
I worked for the USDA for several years. They are the folks who are responsible for many of the agricultural breakthroughs and food technology breakthroughs that allow you to enjoy living better and richer and more well fed than just about any other society that has ever existed. If you would like to see a list of USDA research accomplishments you can page through
THIS LINK
Here's a brief list I'm sure you'd be happy to "live" without (and this is just the USDA research...nothing about the NIH or other research organizations):
Demonstrated that pasteurization kills toxin-producing organisms in raw milk without destroying beneficial lactic acid bacteria.
Texas cattle fever eradicated
Economical methods for producing dextran developed; first used as alternative to blood plasma in Korean War.
Vaccine developed to protect chickens from visceral lymphomatosis
Two publications reporting research on terraces and control of gullies printed. They remain the standard reference works in their field for erosion control.
DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) insect repellent developed.
Demonstrated that raw milk could transmit a bacterium, Brucella abortus, that causes brucellosis in cattle and undulant fever in humans.
Developed methods using calcium to remove strontium-90 radioactivity from wheat and milk.
Discovered molecular structure of transfer RNA.
Discovered that addition of vitamins C and E reduced levels of nitrosamines in fried bacon and nitrite-cured products; industry changed processing to minimize consumer exposure to cancer-causing nitrosamines
Eradicated screwworm fly from the U.S. using sterilization
First electron microscope image produced of virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease in infected animal cells.
Viroids discovered, the smallest known agents of plant disease.
Patented ammoniation process for detoxification of aflatoxin.
Long-term study of dairy improvement started; increased production per cow from 542 pounds of butterfat in 1920 to more than 720 pounds today.
Strain 19 of Brucella abortus developed; formed basis of brucellosis vaccine.
Discovered that selenium is absorbed from roots and carried to the foliage where it kills aphids; the first systemic insecticide.
Demonstrated that water normally lost to runoff could be used to increase growth of grasslands using diversion dams and contour dikes.
Mildew- and rot-proof fabrics and bandages developed.
First simple daily nutrition guide published.
Found that linoleic and linolenic acids were retarding process of making synthetic rubber from butadiene and styrene; solved by partial hydrogenation.
Discovered epoxidation, which allowed production of flexible vinyl
Established that clay particles are minerals with crystalline structures
Technique developed to produce high-quality frozen orange juice concentrate
Revealed that protein similarities between plant and disease organism are involved in susceptibility of the plant to the disease.
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Discovered breeding line that could restore fertility to male-sterile wheat plants.
(And they did that all before the mid 1970's! There's tons more in that link)
[/SIZE]AND the research groups at the USDA (and other government funded research) are specifically established to put that research back out to the people at almost no additional cost. In other words we didn't charge a license fee (or a nominal one) for the patents we generated.
I've had patents in both industry and government. The better deal for
you the consumer are the patents from the government. That's simple economics. So every time you whine about government funded research, you should get on your knees and thank your God you don't have to pay for the same research
if it came out of free-market industry! (You couldn't even begin to afford it).
So why don't you learn a little bit about what government funded science actually does before you complain?
For good things and bad. And then there is the downright evil things like so called science and the foolish fables. If you want to lump that in with science proper, then you can flush the whole thing far as I am concerned.
You know, I bet you
wouldn't. I bet the truth is that if you knew what you were throwing away
at the very moment you needed that science the most, you'd embrace all that science (or find a way to forget you said this).
If you needed an implantable defibrillator tomorrow to stay alive after a near-death experience, I bet your labeling of the Apollo program as "lunacy" would go right out the window.
And that's fine! Science wouldn't care what you "believed" or "thought". You'd get its benefit regardless. Just like you do every day.
Even if we just use present state knowledge to improve life in the fishbowl, you can pay for it yourself.
HAHAHAHAHA! That's funny! You have no idea. You really don't. Trust me, as one who has seen science from both sides:
YOU COULDN'T AFFORD IT.
But otherwise your sentiment's so sweetly naive.
