hunch_net hunch_net-2008 hunch_net-2008-282 knowledge-graph by maker-knowledge-mining
Source: html
Introduction: I’ve avoided discussing politics here, although not for lack of interest. The problem with discussing politics is that it’s customary for people to say much based upon little information. Nevertheless, politics can have a substantial impact on science (and we might hope for the vice-versa). It’s primary election time in the United States, so the topic is timely, although the issues are not. There are several policy decisions which substantially effect development of science and technology in the US. Education The US has great contrasts in education. The top universities are very good places, yet the grade school education system produces mediocre results. For me, the contrast between a public education and Caltech was bracing. For many others attending Caltech, it clearly was not. Upgrading the k-12 education system in the US is a long-standing chronic problem which I know relatively little about. My own experience is that a basic attitude of “no child unrealized” i
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1 There are several policy decisions which substantially effect development of science and technology in the US. [sent-5, score-0.735]
2 Respect Lack of respect for science and technology is routinely expressed in many ways in the US. [sent-13, score-0.505]
3 A more refined form of lack of respect is simply lack of presence in decision making. [sent-18, score-0.474]
4 Swapping gasoline for hydrogen-based transportable energy source is dubious because it introduces another energy storage conversion to lose energy on. [sent-22, score-0.396]
5 In contrast, hybrid and electric vehicles actually recover substantial energy from regenerative braking, and a plug-in hybrid could run off electricity in typical commuter usage. [sent-24, score-0.506]
6 The simplest form of lack of respect is simply lack of support. [sent-38, score-0.474]
7 The case for federal vs corporate funding of basic science and technology development is very simple: the benefit to society of conducting such work dramatically exceeds the benefit any one agent within society (such as a company) could gain from it. [sent-39, score-0.919]
8 Confidence This is primarily related to the technology side of science and technology. [sent-42, score-0.419]
9 Many policy decisions are made without confidence in the ability of technologists to adapt. [sent-43, score-0.505]
10 This demonstrates an overconfidence by policy makers in there ability to pick the winner, and a lack of confidence in the ability of technologists to solve problems. [sent-47, score-0.779]
11 However, for a society it seems much better to measure wealth in terms of what the society can do. [sent-52, score-0.545]
12 Policy makers often forget that science and technology is a capability when it comes time to think of a solution. [sent-53, score-0.492]
13 Since debt by the government creates a temptation by the government to (effectively) print money, the number of dollars in circulation has been rapidly growing . [sent-63, score-0.509]
14 But, a growing number of dollars means that the currency is devaluing, which makes owning dollars undesirable. [sent-64, score-0.506]
15 I don’t know an example of a previous world currency that has ceased to be such, but basic economics says that bad things happen to dollar-based savings if all the dollars flow back into the US. [sent-65, score-0.418]
16 There is no fix once the dollar loses world currency status because confidence can be lost quickly, but not regained. [sent-68, score-0.518]
17 The US has shifted towards a substantially more asymmetric division of wealth since the 1970s . [sent-75, score-0.45]
18 An asymmetric division of wealth is not fundamentally bad—there needs to be room for great success to imply great rewards. [sent-76, score-0.45]
19 However, a casual correlation of science and technology development with the gini coefficient map reveals that a large gini coefficient and substantial science and technology development do not coincide. [sent-77, score-1.44]
20 The problem is that wealth becomes inheritable, and it’s very unlikely that the wealth is inherited by a someone interested in science and technology. [sent-78, score-0.846]
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