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So only opportunities with a path to economic profitability should be researched? That is a very narrow view of advancing society
by jswny 9mo ago
So only opportunities with a path to economic profitability should be researched?
That is a very narrow view of advancing society
- tw600040 9mo agoResearch anything and everything on your own dime. if it's taxpayer's money, then yes, it has to have at least a probability of profitability.
- techterrier 9mo agogenerating private profits are the best use of public money?
- maerF0x0 9mo agoAnd if there is a probability of profitability then there is a market to sell that opportunity for capital. But in a high interest rate environment some ideas just arent worth exploring.
- unbelievably 9mo agoSo absurdly myopic to restrict research to what may be profitable in this moment. Why are you wasting time researching number theory bro, that'll never be useful. Why are you studying y^2 = x^3 + ax + b if it can't be turned into a SaaS unicorn tomorrow? So fucking stupid. The whole point is that commercial R&D can find the immediate to short term gains and make billions, while the long shots get funded without putting anyone at risk.
- Esophagus4 9mo agoIf it could be profitable, the private sector would fund it. Government funding can help with things that we decide are good for society, but not quite profitable financially. Examples: CDC lead exposure research, Earthquake Early Warning System… even the tech we use today came out of non-commercialized funding (NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography and ARPANET).