[maeln]

> The problem is our public institutions (universities) are using public dollars on things that are not desired by the public.

That are not desired by the public until it is. A lot of people might find research in advance and quite esoteric math useless, as it does not produce any benefit to them. That is until those research yield something that can be used in a way, or in another field, where it does impact their lives. The issue is that you cannot easily tell what is useful or not. Some research have a clear goal, who, if achieved, will yield very tangible benefit, but they might never reach it. On the other hand, something that seems impenetrable to the average man might yield incredible benefit.

Without the freedom to explore, nothing would ever be found.

[tjs8rj]

Nobody is complaining about research into stuff we’re not sure is useful yet. The problem is public dollars are being spent on activism.

[maeln]

What YOU believe is activism. I goes back to my point.