[kossTKR]

I was a huge sci fi and science nerd 10 years ago and still am, and honestly i would love to go back and care less about how the world works, but to me the very real fascination with "actual scientists" and "actual science" has been overshadowed by the siphoning, the false promises and the cooking of statistics that happens while everyones tax dollars get channeled into a fog somewhere between "external enemies" and technooptimist drivel.

The fact is that we could use our money on something real, something tangible like saving earth instead of war machines and false promises while the gini coeffecient goes crazy and public education fails.

And i mean this is not just a perspective i've got from researching economics, but from having lots of family in academic science - i've seen how much is about grant money, towing the line and about furthering some state or corporate cause sadly.

[idlehand]

The US military budget is ~3.5% of GDP. It makes up about 10% of all government spending. 90% of your tax money does not go to war machines.

[moloch-hai]

The DoE budget is largely military in nature, too. Be sure to count the spooks' portion, as well.