The US research enterprise too heavily centers on elite research institutions, and fails individual researchers with bold ideas, suggests the White House Office of Science and Technology in a new report. The office recommends sweeping changes to where federal funding is spent and how it should be awarded.
Released on July 21, the Science: A New Golden Age report seeks to update Vannevar Bush’s landmark 1945 report Science: The Endless Frontier for the modern era. In the report, OSTP Director Michael Kratsios argues that today’s scientific landscape — shaped by AI, global competition, and private-sector investment — requires a fundamental redesign of how the federal government funds research.
Also on July 21, Kratsios and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought jointly published a memorandum on the Trump administration’s R&D budget priorities for fiscal year 2028. The memo instructs science agencies to incorporate the administration’s priorities into their forthcoming budget requests, as well as develop implementation plans within 90 days for a series of “R&D priority practices.” Those include:
Developing new research funding mechanisms; Identifying and supporting top tech talent through, for example, early career and STEM-learning opportunities; Boosting the “science of science-funding” to evaluate which programs have the greatest impact; And collaborating with industry to drive greater private investment in R&D.
The memo directs agencies to rebalance their portfolios toward foundational research, and prioritize physical science over life science. Many of the administration’s priorities, including AI and nuclear fission, are dependent on computer science, physical science, and engineering, but the report notes that the latter two fields’ share of the federal research portfolio has declined over time, even as their strategic importance has grown.
Last time this happened, we got Tang: https://www.wideopencountry.com/tang-drink/
Translation:
They’re gutting any sort of science that provides benefits to people (life sciences, environmental, social) and putting the money into technology that is designed to control and hurt people (computer science = AI, while physical science and engineering = military application).
At least that’s my take. Feels like they intentionally left the memorandum as vague as possible.
The US research enterprise too heavily centers on
people who know what the scientific method iselite research institutions, and failsidiots who do shit based on vibesindividual researchers with bold ideas, suggests the White House Office of Science and Technology in a new report.This coming from the administration that thought transgenic mice were transgender 🙄 🙄 🙄
“individual researchers with bold ideas” will mysteriously turn out to be republican techbros
I mean, like everything, the ultimate goal is privatize, control/eliminate competition and profit via exploitation.
Nobody chooses academia over industry for the money. They do it so they’re not forced to compromise their values under the thumb of some micromanaging nepo baby demanding results they want to believe no matter what the data actually says. Investors not inventors.
If you get rid of publicly funded research, you leave a lot of talented scientists with no choice. It’s either industry, leave the country, or leave science entirely and start a new career.
And keep in mind, this is in addition to what OMB already proposed to do to all federal funding. Maybe they plan to hand Republicans a get out of jail free card by actually stopping the Vought/OMB proposed changes to federal grants just before the deadline in October, then achieve the original goal anyway after the midterms.
Bold ideas, no need for scientific value
Horse tranqs, get 'em while they’re hot
“Individual researchers”? Like those with fringe ideas that prevent them from joining those elite research institutes? Or like those who “prove” links between vaccination and autism, or “prove” that horse dewormer ist a genuine cure-it-all?
Can’t have any science that might harm profits. /s
So the new drug and cancer vaccine clinical trials at the not for profit major cancer centers will be cancelled, and instead YouTube influencers claiming ivermectin cures all cancer will get their funding.
Oh wait - physical science, so more money to oil and gas executives and tech bros?More money to corruption!
Fuck the fucking idiots in the fucking Whitehouse. They are doing everything they can to wreck the future of this country. I swear they are all Russian assets.
Epstien worked for israel, and Maxwell’s father was a spy. The whole thing was a gigantic honeypot meant to ensnare stupid politicians into toeing the line.
Its absoluety incredible than a couple decades and a few 10s of millions of dollars for party supplies was all it took to completely own the most powerful country on the planet.
It was so successful, you really have to wonder how many more of these rings exist. There is no way epstien was the only one, we only know about him because he got caught.
Maxwell’s father also created the for-profit science publishing paywall model.
Not that it’s stopped them before but is this even legal? When congress allocated money toward cancer research, you can’t legally redirect it to proving renewable energy is bad for the environment or all vaccines cause autism
The only ones that can call them out on that is congress. And right now Congress is being run by a bunch of boot licking Republicans and spineless Democrats.
The memo directs agencies to rebalance their portfolios toward foundational research, and prioritize physical science over life science.
I mean yeah, why not. Listening to Peter Thiel’s hand puppet has certainly made America great so far.
Who needs funding for life science research when we got parasites and diarrhea outbreaks? Every American a walking incubator at this point.
Im glad they figured out the US was starting to develop a lead in life science and are going out of there way to hobble us. /s
I mean:
“Released on July 21, the Science: A New Golden Age report seeks to update Vannevar Bush’s landmark 1945 report Science: The Endless Frontier for the modern era. In the report, OSTP Director Michael Kratsios argues that today’s scientific landscape — shaped by AI, global competition, and private-sector investment — requires a fundamental redesign of how the federal government funds research.”
sooooo. in 1945 a report talking about ai and global competition was written. was this written by ai (the government thing or its press release)
I’d guess that the 1945 report was sound, although I haven’t read it. Vannevar Bush was a bright guy who came within a hair of predicting the modern Web at around the same time. He almost certainly didn’t mention AI in his report, since even expert systems and such were science fiction back then.
The press release and the modern report? Both total garbage, I’m sure, regardless of whether they were written by an LLM or an overworked intern.
