great post
[link to www.wired.com]
...Our options are limited in how to fund pure science or volcano monitoring. Do we become beholden to commercial interest by requiring private funding for science — and if you can’t get funding from a company than your research is “unworthy”? Do we turn scientists into internet buskers, asking for money to do their work through Kickstarter campaigns? Even my research, which is limited by the nature of my job at a small liberals arts college*, costs a significant amount of money per year to pay for student stipends, lab time, supplies, travel, field work and more. For my colleagues at research-oriented institution, where research productivity is vital for job security, the cost is much higher. By cutting government funding of research or forcing the commercialization of science research, we’re saying that science for discovery is no longer viable or useful. Is this something you want to teach your children or grandchildren, that science can only be done if it will make someone money? Or do we want to say “no” to this trend that “business is boss” across our society and make the stand that science research is the core to discovery in the United States and across the globe.