Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
That same crass approach ultimately dries up innovation in the sciences (and by extension, later technology transfer) as well, because it only looks at relative simplistic/short-term cost-benefit and risk analysis. Basic research? Who needs it! All just a waste of money and resources. Those people should be making better widgets and at lower cost...
Is it possible that in some subjects, basic research has reached a point of diminishing returns? At Harvard the the very smartest physics majors went on to become string theorists (string theory is a branch of particle physics theory). There are smart people who think string theory is a dead end, and it has not yielded physical predictions. Even if it did, would it matter? The atomic theory of matter had profound consequences, but has the theory of quarks done so? I wonder if support for research in pure math also draws the brightest people away from productive endeavors.