There are forces working the other way too...
1. Lots of the brilliant overseas science students like it here and stay.
2. Venture capital is the new R&D
3. Biotech has become enourmously profitable
4. Darpa is a major force for research
5. The universties are very strong... just one floor of the artificial intelligence lab at MIT has produced more tech comanies than many entire countries.
1. Lots of the brilliant overseas science students like it here and stay.
The high level folks are gypsies today. They come into a company, work for 36 months on a project, take six months off, and land another gig in France, Camrbridge, NYC or Switzerland for another 36 months.
2. Venture capital is the new R&D
Venture capital is business. They're not interested in science for science's sake.
3. Biotech has become enourmously profitable
Yep. But the leaders in the future may not be American.
4. Darpa is a major force for research
Look at the number of threads on FR that mock gubmint funding of science that sounds a bit looney with no immediate pay out.
5. The universties are very strong... just one floor of the artificial intelligence lab at MIT has produced more tech comanies than many entire countries.
The universities like MIT and Caltech remain strong, for the time being. What happens when the feeder systems of high schools begin to discourage science? Even putting that aside, look at how universities are mocked on FR for being too liberal.
I don't want to sound alarmist, but I think we're at the beginning of a major crisis here in regards to science. And some of it doesn't even have to do with anything concrete, such as funding public education. Just in terms of choosing students or distributing research dollars.