Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Political science

With some dismay I read this article on the BBC-website. It is about science and the cost of science. It is said that there should be better planning so that ahead of time it is clear how much a given project will cost. This should mean that "the wider scientific community and industry should contribute to the decision-making process".

Effectively the right honourable gentlemen is looking for a reduction in the cost of science by increasing the involvement of even more people to select and manage scientific projects. Effectively this will lead to less money for doing science. Effectively it will not be the scientists who select the projects that are considered to be of scientific value.

The dismay I feel is because it is likely to lead to more yet "politically correct" science. Science that has more to do with what the expedient results should be and not with scientifically relevance. When you consider the huge amounts of administrative and other overhead it is a wonder that scientific research is still practised.

Thanks,
GerardM

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