Ep. 257, Chapter 6: Research Funding, Cuts, And Lessons Learned With Thomas Levenson

48:30 – 1:00:26

Levenson states that curiosity-driven basic science often seeds unexpected, beneficial technological developments. He cautions that relying on individual philanthropists is not a sustainable solution because private funding can be sporadic. So, for science on the scale required by modern society, social-level funding is essential and should not be subject to the whims of changing political administrations. Unilateral cuts to scientific funding severely impact a nation's ability to develop new treatments and to understand critical issues with global, life-or-death consequences. Additional casualties of such cuts include the loss of skilled scientists due to a crippled educational pipeline, as well as the handicapping of vital social monitoring capabilities. This "unilaterally disarming our ability just to find out stuff" leaves society extremely vulnerable to unforeseen events and hinders learning from disasters.