[ RadSafe ] political funding of science/ was:Radon: POWERFULLY associated with LESS lung cancer by B.Cohen

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Hi, Steve.

I don't actually agree with, " Real science doesn't create wealth it
only consumes it,..."  I believe science creates vast amounts of wealth,
but does so in indirect ways that often cannot be predicted before the
science is done.

Basic research has found things that created entire new fields of wealth
creation.  Often this has happened while looking into some mystery that
had no obvious payoff for solving.  Because the payoff isn't obvious,
getting financial backing can be hard.  Government funding for basic
research has paid off in creating whole new industries, with wealth
creation that is hard to wrap you mind around (imagine, for example,
what GPS is worth.  Not just the units that you hold, but the value of
being able to locate things and people almost instantly, almost
anywhere.  If the US Government hadn't paid for the research on how to
make it work, and then paid for the system to be deployed, it wouldn't
have happened, because no company could predict what the pay off would
be).

Also, most money spent on research actually goes to people, with a fair
portion of that going to grants that let people get advanced degrees.
Those people then go out to industry, bringing new knowledge and
understanding.  Very, very few businesses are willing to take the risk
of investing in an individual's education, even if they know that at
some time they will want someone with that expertise.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Clayton J
Bradt
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 10:39 AM
To: sjd at swcp.com; radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: [ RadSafe ] political funding of science/ was:Radon: POWERFULLY
associated with LESS lung cancer by B.Cohen

Steve Dapra writes:


"The problem is that politics funds science, thus transmuting 
science into a political football.  Real science can raise its own 
funding.  It does not need to leech off the taxpayer."