[phibit]

Came here to say this, glad someone said it first. The sense of entitlement that sometimes comes with higher academic degrees is flat-out weird. Congratulations you have a PhD, keep making meaningful contributions but don't expect to get well paid until you earn it by bringing an idea/product that has real/perceived value to market.

[mooreds]

This is why government funding of science is so important. The government funds long term projects that couldn't possibly be 'brought to market' by a private company: weather data, gps, even that old chestnut, the internet, the postal service.

The timeframe is too long, so we collectively decide to pay for basic research with the understanding that some chunk of it might be useful at some time.

Basic science is not an activity that jives well with the profit motive (again, because of the long time frames), yet it is a required foundation for the 'value add' products that companies are good at bringing to market.

So, the question is, do we want to continue to invest in long term thinking via the government? Do we want to structure other institutions (foundations, corporations, non profits, universities) in such a way they have an incentive to undertake long term projects? Can we have individuals take part in this? Do we want to abandon big projects with uncertain return?

[alecbenzer]

> weather data, gps, even that old chestnut, the internet, the postal service

I think it's a stretch to say that these things "couldn't possibly [have been] brought to market by a private company" -- especially not only because it was government that happened to fund those things (I mean, doesn't the existence UPS/FedEx pretty strongly imply that a private postal service is/would have been viable?)

> so we collectively decide to pay for basic research with the understanding that some chunk of it might be useful at some time

That's not quite what happens. _Some_ collectively decide that _all_ should pay for basic research.

[glenra]

People also forget about things like "the pony express" (a creative effort by a private delivery company to fill a niche market), Spooner's American Letter Mail Company and other wuch precedents. The post office would have been driven out of business by private companies long ago if it were legally permitted to undercut their rates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Letter_Mail_Company