[RadioAstronomer]

I get the same (let private industry do it) arguments over space exploration.

Also, the cancellation of the SSC was one of the larger US science blunders of the 20th cetury IMHO.

BTW, (Check my signup date) :-) 5 years!! Guess I no longer rate as a newbie! LOL!

[Lurker]

That reminds me. I was promised a tour of the new laser facility at Argonne. I gotta call that guy I met last time I was there and set it up.

L

[RightWingAtheist]

I think science is best served by a two-tiered economic system, both with government expenditures and an economic system and climate that encourages massive investment into research by private companies and philanthropies. While it's appaling enough that some people don't want to see any public science funding (their attitude is basically "why pay our most educated people to actually work, when we should just hand it over to those too stupid and lazy to get a job or education?"), but I'm equally disheartened that some people don't recognize there's a role for the private sector as well, or that a free economy is necessary for a healthy research environment, especially since some of these voices come from those within the scientific community frightened by the "corporatization" of research.

[longshadow]

Guess I no longer rate as a newbie! LOL!

But you're still relegated to the Janitorial Staff at DarwinCentral™!