[bzbarsky]

> how do you have any objectivity in allocation of funds etc. without some metric?

Our need for "objectivity" here is to a large extent driven by the centralization of the funding allocation that http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm warned about and has since come to pass. If funding were more decentralized, lack of objectivity in any particular funding source would be _much_ less of a problem.

[tdaltonc]

Specifically: The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.

[bzbarsky]

Indeed. Since then it has gone from "prospect" to "it's been this way for decades"...

There's lots more in there that usually doesn't get quoted (unlike the bit about the military-industrial complex) and is spot-on prescient.