Basic Science Research Needs Government Funding

Basic Science Can't Survive without Government Funding

Without government resources, basic science will grind to a halt

Nathan Myhrvold | February 1, 2016

[...] Examine the detailed history of almost any iconic scientific discovery or technological invention—the lightbulb, the transistor, DNA, even the Internet—and you'll find that the famous names credited with the breakthrough were only a few steps ahead of a pack of competitors. Recently some writers and elected officials have used this phenomenon, called parallel innovation, to argue against the public financing of basic research.
In his new book, The Evolution of Everything (Harper, 2015), for example, British science writer Matt Ridley claims that government just gets in the way of the natural evolution of science and invention. Many in the U.S. Congress agree. We spend too much taxpayer money on science, some politicians say. Government should leave it to companies to finance the research they need. [...]

Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/can-we-really-trust-scientists

<more at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/basic-science-can-t-survive-without-government-funding/; related links: https://scientiasalon.wordpress.com/2015/06/18/the-debate-about-funding-of-basic-scientific-research/ (The debate about funding of basic scientific research. June 18, 2015) and http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2009/02/should-governme.html (Should Government Fund Science Research?: A Debate. February 9, 2009)>