[bigtoona]

Translation
We need a trillion more dollars to fund a whole decade of new bullshit research that has produced not a single thing for humanity in the last 50 years.

[samtheman]

We need a trillion more dollars to fund a whole decade of new bullshit research that has produced not a single thing for humanity in the last 50 years.

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I just did a search on “particle physics spinoff”. I found a lot of spin, not much spinoff.

And here’s an undated answer that you have to pay money to see: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0305-4624/17/2/301/pdf

[Leaning Right]

We need a trillion more dollars to fund a whole decade of new bullshit research that has produced not a single thing for humanity in the last 50 years.

At one time pure scientific research actually lead to worthwhile discoveries. Now I don't know what the heck they're doing. I don't even think they know what the heck they're doing.

Consider string theory. It is THE hot topic in physics research today. Yet no verifiable evidence of strings has been found, and no applications have been proposed. So we had better double the string theory budget!

[satan]

Sounds like you are talking about Los Alamos, Sandia, and Livermore the Department of Energy Labs that haven’t accomplished anything since the atomic bomb.

[sagar]

“to fund a whole decade of new bullshit research that has produced not a single thing for humanity in the last 50 years.”

GPS satellites apparently use the BS tech, but it was not useful until TomTom created portable GPS.

[Rockingham]

The case for public financing of scientific research is strongest for basic research that does not have a clear prospect of practical benefit. In the later instance, commercial and non-profit funding sources are usually available because the benefits can be touted, while basic physics research can have immense value but on a longer time scale and with uncertain consequences.

As for basic physics research, we are still in the early phase of understanding quantum mechanics, but gains are more and more arriving in the marketplace in the form of new materials that make new products possible. For most of us, the connection between understanding and control of quantum mechanics and benefits in ordinary life is best manifested in computers, flat screen TVs, and smart phones -- all resting on foundations laid decades ago by Einstein, Dirac, Bohr, and many others.

If the physics pans out, basic research being done now could yield cheap and limitless clean electric power, routine travel throughout the solar system, and a new wave of innovation and prosperity. The hope for all that though depends on someone -- often the federal taxpayer -- funding decades of scientific drudgery that makes such advances possible. And, it deserves mention that in the modern era, the country that leads in science more or less also gets to run the world.

[LibWhacker]

We need a trillion more dollars to fund a whole decade of new bullshit research that has produced not a single thing for humanity in the last 50 years.

Obviously, you have never heard of George Foreman's Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine.

[Pelham]

“We need a trillion more dollars to fund a whole decade of new bullshit research that has produced not a single thing for humanity in the last 50 years.”

Hey!! Think of it as midnight basketball for Caltech nerds.

It keeps them off the streets and committing crimes.