How to Go After the Big Science Cartel and Actually Win
On 29 July 2022, three Republican US Senators (Rand Paul, KY; Ted Cruz, TX; Richard Burr, NC) asked the Director of the National Science Foundation to provide information on a variety of concerns, ranging from how decisions on funding research grants are made, to how the NSF handles political conflicts of interest among the scientists it supports.
Good for them. Since its founding in 1950, the NSF has drifted far from its original mission and vision: to support basic research in universities. Among the aims was to insulate the process of scientific discovery from meddlesome politicians. No more: the NSF has harnessed itself to blatantly political aims, from the dubious "greening" of our society and nation, to the toxic agenda of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion". The Senators are right to lift the lid on these shenanigans. They are wasting taxpayers' money.
That said, the Senators are barking up the wrong tree. The NSF, as ripe a target as it might seem, is comparatively a small part of a bigger problem of corruption of science. Here is my humble advice to the Senators about what to target.
Go after the Big Science cartel
By all means, go after the NSF, but your real target should be the powerful interests in universities, foundations, academic publishers, and governments, known as the Big Science Cartel (BSC).
This tangled web is propped up by about $90 billion of annual federal expenditures, making the BSC a massive corporate/institutional welfare scheme. The NSF's annual $9 billion budget is about a tenth of total federal expenditures for academic research. The rest is doled out by several other federal agencies with the biggest player among them being the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They all are prone to the same questionable behaviors as the NSF, and are just as corrupt. The revelation of massive kickbacks and royalty schemes involving "public" health is only the most recent example.
So, my first point of advice: The NSF is small fry. If you want to fix science, go after the Big Science Cartel.
Don't be dopes
Sorry, senators, Big Science has seen your likes before – indeed the entire Big Science Cartel has been fending off attacks from politicians for decades.
In the 1970s, for example, Sen William Proxmire's (D, WI) Golden Fleece awards highlighted federally funded research projects that were "of questionable value." While the Golden Fleece Awards made for good laugh lines at Proxmire's after-dinner speeches, Proxmire had allowed himself to be drawn into a well-practiced game of Rope-A-Dope. Not sure of the meaning? From Wikipedia: rope-a-dope is a boxing … technique in which one contender draws non-injuring offensive punches … while leaning against the rope of the boxing ring … to let the opponent tire themselves out.
Please go to Real Clear Science to read more.
That said, the Senators are barking up the wrong tree. The NSF, as ripe a target as it might seem, is comparatively a small part of a bigger problem of corruption of science. Here is my humble advice to the Senators about what to target.
Go after the Big Science cartel
By all means, go after the NSF, but your real target should be the powerful interests in universities, foundations, academic publishers, and governments, known as the Big Science Cartel (BSC).
This tangled web is propped up by about $90 billion of annual federal expenditures, making the BSC a massive corporate/institutional welfare scheme. The NSF's annual $9 billion budget is about a tenth of total federal expenditures for academic research. The rest is doled out by several other federal agencies with the biggest player among them being the National Institutes of Health (NIH). They all are prone to the same questionable behaviors as the NSF, and are just as corrupt. The revelation of massive kickbacks and royalty schemes involving "public" health is only the most recent example.
So, my first point of advice: The NSF is small fry. If you want to fix science, go after the Big Science Cartel.
Don't be dopes
Sorry, senators, Big Science has seen your likes before – indeed the entire Big Science Cartel has been fending off attacks from politicians for decades.
In the 1970s, for example, Sen William Proxmire's (D, WI) Golden Fleece awards highlighted federally funded research projects that were "of questionable value." While the Golden Fleece Awards made for good laugh lines at Proxmire's after-dinner speeches, Proxmire had allowed himself to be drawn into a well-practiced game of Rope-A-Dope. Not sure of the meaning? From Wikipedia: rope-a-dope is a boxing … technique in which one contender draws non-injuring offensive punches … while leaning against the rope of the boxing ring … to let the opponent tire themselves out.
Please go to Real Clear Science to read more.
________
It takes a scientist to figure this out?
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