Re: Cold Fusion Discussion

[Lois Breur Krause <krause@CLEMSON.EDU>]

> Why do we always assume that:
>
> 1)  The government must fund all Physics research.  Research on both CF and
> spaced-based solar satellites could easily be funded from private/commercial
> sources.


Some of us remember a time when private industry funded most research,
before the government took over through taxation.(The corporate tax
structure apparently changed sometime in the early 70's where R&D funding
was no longer shielded, or had to show a short term profit incentive to be
shielded from taxes)

Those were the days when industry could afford to do basic research, and
looked at the long term incentive of research just to produce new
knowledge. When the change occurred, scientists suffered massive layoffs,
R&D budgets were cut to the bone, and the whole industry R&D culture
changed.

With government funding research, they are able to control what research is
done,  by whom, and what results get further funding, which argueably skews
results.

1984 anyone?

Disclaimer: OK, this is opinion.  I was there.  Maybe others remember it
differently. And academia may not have seen the same changes that industry
did.
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Dr. Lois Breur Krause
Department of Geological Sciences
442 Brackett Hall
Clemson University
Clemson SC  29634

teaching chemistry, physics, astronomy and geology to elementary education
majors.

How We Learn and Why We Don't: Student Survival Guide,
available from International Thompson Publishing, ISBN 0324-011970

http://home.earthlink.net/~breurkrause

krause@clemson.edu

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