[vixen99]

'Why should we let people whose only qualification is money try to decide what's important?'. Let! Gosh, lovely implications. What constraints do you have in mind to fetter the lawful activities of very rich people? Who is the 'we' and how will you define 'important'? But it's the 'let' that worries me.

[beloch]

What constraints? Adequate public funding for fundamental science so that brilliant minds and productive labs can pursue their chosen field of inquiry rather than abandoning it to chase grant money reserved for sexier topics.