Public funds for research is a tiny fraction of the funds that the government spends. There are trillions wasted elsewhere that shows that overall it is terrible with spending money productively.
All the same, the reason you have maps on your smartphone can be traced to GPS satellites and ultimately the space program itself, funded by the government.
Yeah yeah, SpaceX exists now, decades after all the very tough and very expensive initial work.
Nobody is denying that. The point is that the government is not lacking for funding but poorly spending the money it already has.
Imagine how much more we could have now if the space program budget was more than a fraction of a percent. That won't be fixed by just giving more money to the govt.
Yeah yeah, SpaceX exists now, decades after all the very tough and very expensive initial work.