[imgabe]

Not all research is going to pay off and it’s never going to be obvious ahead of time which research will lead to important discoveries.

I think if you’re funding research correctly you should be giving grant money to things that end up being a silly waste of time in retrospect.

Not that this was, necessarily, but in general giving grants to research that ends up being useless shouldn’t be considered a bad thing. It’s part of the cost of searching for new knowledge. Sometimes you’ll go down a dead end, but you still have to check there.

[WalterBright]

Feel free to donate your money to frivolous research.

[imgabe]

I will!

[WalterBright]

Good! Since I also do frivolous research, I'll be expecting a check from you at any moment!

[imgabe]

Send me your research proposal. I have to make sure you're not trying to cure cancer or anything that isn't sufficiently frivolous.

[WalterBright]

My proposal intends to answer the burning question: "do people like ice cream?" Send money now!

[pmdulaney]

Upvote for humor!