←back to thread

186 points pseudolus | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.439s | source
Show context
kevin_thibedeau[dead post] ◴[] No.44434751[source]
[flagged]
1. declan_roberts ◴[] No.44434820[source]
How did we get to the point that everything relies on this discretionary funding? We have some serious design flaws.
replies(3): >>44434936 #>>44435285 #>>44435652 #
2. analog31 ◴[] No.44434936[source]
It wasn't all that discretionary so long as the ruling faction was executing laws in good faith.
3. apical_dendrite ◴[] No.44435285[source]
Because there are some things that the market just won't do effectively. Basic science that takes decades to pay off is a good example. Somebody has to understand the biology so that decades later someone else can build a product.

Private foundations can pay for some of it - a lot of the green revolution was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation - but they don't have the resources of the federal government, and you're relying on the whim of a single family or individual.

Government-funded basic research has worked out really well for the US.