Disruptive science is on the decline, are flush coffers to blame?
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CounterCurrent:
The Diminishing Returns of Grant-Based Science
Disruptive science is on the decline, are flush coffers to blame?
CounterCurrent is the National Association of Scholars’ weekly newsletter, bringing you the biggest issues in academia and our responses to them.
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Category: Science/Administrative Boat; Reading Time: ~2 minutes
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** Featured Article - Science: Are We Getting What We're Paying For? ([link removed])
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Science ought to be in the business of discovering astonishing new truths. Ever since Archimedes yelled Eureka! when he discovered the bathtub ([link removed]) , (as the story ought to go), scientists have been making wonderful discoveries, such as the laws of gravity, DNA, and microorganisms. We’ve had a regular assembly line of Prometheuses in white coats bringing fire from the gods.
Something’s gone wrong with the assembly line. In an article published today at Minding the Campus ([link removed]) , J. Scott Turner, director of the National Association of Scholars’ Diversity in the Sciences Project ([link removed]) , examines how the gusher of government money into scientific research just isn’t doing the job of promoting scientific research. A recent Nature article ([link removed]) spells out the astonishing truth that “disruptive” science, science that changes a field dramatically, has been declining spectacularly since the 1950s.
The Nature authors can’t figure out why—but Dr. Turner compares declining scientific discovery with increasing government money for the sciences, and the negative correlation is astonishing. Government funding encourages run-of-the-mill scientific research and crowds out the creative disruption of genuinely daring work.
Dr. Turner makes it clear that this isn’t just a question of a politicized science research establishment, although, of course, that’s made matters worse. The flow of government money itself is what’s stifling the ethic of scientific discovery and replacing it with an ethic of grant-seeking. The only way to restore an ethic of scientific discovery is to shut off the government spigot, whose main effect is to give the power to direct research money to the Colonel Blimps of American science.
The NAS thinks that’s a pretty good analysis, and we’re pursuing that as a strategic goal. We favor the pursuit of truth, and we favor reforming a system of science funding that’s producing diminishing returns for basic scientific discovery. Of course, we realize that government funding for basic science isn’t going to disappear overnight—and we realize that a reformed science system has to continue to support important goals, such as funding for scientific research that supports national security (e.g., artificial intelligence). Our policy recommendations will provide a realistic map that legislators can use to get to the destination. But we need to know where we want to go—and that’s to an America where government money stops smothering the ethic of scientific discovery.
America needs more Archimedean scientists—more Richard Feynmans, more John von Neumanns, more Claude Shannons, more James Watsons, more scientists dedicated to generating the lightning of a new idea. Government greenbacks can create a comfortable career, but they’re terrible at bringing lightning to earth. We need to start up the lightning again—and Dr. Turner’s article shows the way.
Until next week.
David Randall
Director of Research
National Association of Scholars
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For more on student loans and American higher education:
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November 29, 2022
** Ideological Intensification: A Quantitative Study of DEI in STEM Subjects ([link removed])
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Mason Goad and Bruce R. Chartwell
This report documents and quantifies the growing prevalence of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) associated language in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in the United States.
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July 11, 2022
** Shifting Sands: Keeping Count of Government Science ([link removed])
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Warren Kindzierski, David Randall, Stanley Young
The Shifting Sands project examines how irreproducible science affects select areas of government policy and regulation governments by different federal agencies.
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January 06, 2023
** Restoring the Sciences Webinar Series ([link removed])
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J. Scott Turner
This webinar series seeks to interview scientists, administrators, and officials on the various problems facing scientific endeavor and how we might remedy it.
** About the NAS
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The National Association of Scholars, founded in 1987, emboldens reasoned scholarship and propels civil debate. We’re the leading organization of scholars and citizens committed to higher education as the catalyst of American freedom.
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