betascience
3mo ago
Maybe I misunderstood your position. I thought you were saying the mismatch between the number of scientists requesting funding and the amount of funds available put the scientists in a position where they vulnerable to pressures to conform to the current zeitgeist and unable to be principled. And thus, the way to "save science" is to ensure that the funding is less competitive. That there are is more funding being chased by fewer projects. Thus they can be principled.
I am interpreting that to mean that science cannot be apolitical unless all (or the vast majority) of science is funded. If those are the terms, I would rather not fund it.
betascience
3mo ago
I think that work sounds really cool. I hope a private company wants to continue it and you get hired.
But I mean come on "you have to give me and my friends money or your country will fail" is obviously not a compelling argument. If it don't make dollars it don't make sense.
betascience
3mo ago
We're not going to do unlimited gay race science funding. I'm sorry. Just pour so much money into the program that everything is funded is not the a realistic vision of the future. Forget practically reasonable, it's not politically reasonable. This will always devolve into patron-client politics.
betascience
3mo ago
I don't want to throw them in a gulag. But the system that did it has to go away. You get that right? It's not punishment per se. I understand that they don't like it or it negatively affects them. But the institutions have to be destroyed. I don't want these guys in jail or anything. But they'll need to find someone who's not the American tax payer to fund their work. If they are as smart as they think they are, they will be wildly successful in business. If they're not, they will be wildly successful in food service.
In a perfect world I would a be an "I f*ing love science!" guy. I grew up watching Mr. Wizard and later Bill Nye, winning the science fair, and getting graduate degrees. I even get to do something that sometimes slightly resembles "research" in the corporate world doing data experiments at a big company. I do f'ing love science.
But I'm not convinced that government funded science can be anything but a patronage program with our present politics. What institutions put their neck on the line for Jay Bhattacharya during covid? What institutions pushed the government to back off from childhood covid vaccinations? What institutions stood strongly against strong-arming covid survivors into vaccinating.
This is a simple, but salient example. There is not a strong enough scientific apparatus to stand up against anti-scientific viewpoints from within the government. It's an entirely controlled program. I don't want to fund it anymore. Elon started Space X with $100M. I hope someone can peel off a few notes for you, but if they take it out of my pocket, we've got a problem.
betascience
3mo ago
It's just silly. Trump can fire any government employee. DOGE can advise Trump. Elon can advise Trump. The janitor can advise Trump (and from what I've heard, probably does!) when he empties the waste paper basket in the oval office. The firings come from department heads who the President instructed to collaborate with DOGE. The department heads can fire the people under them, as can Trump, and Trump can fire the department heads.
That there's any confusion around this leaves me a bit flabbergasted.
betascience
3mo ago
It should replace h1b and the cost should be closer to 1.5 or 2 million. Banks can finance them, with the citizenship as collateral. Don't make your payments? We'll sell your house and put you on the next flight to Hyderabad. Those who are so incredibly talented that the US can't live without them will have an easy time getting financing. They'll clear 300k a year no problem here and pay it off in no time.
betascience
3mo ago
There is something deeply unsettling to me about the way that subcontinentals talk and think about the US. First of all, I want to do my best to empathize with them. Millennials entering the job market post 2008, racked with student loan debt often had a very tough time getting a foot hold in their careers, and I was one of those. There was a feeling among many that a promise had been that if you make it to a state school and get a bachelor's degree that companies will roll out the red carpet for you and you'll be on a glidepath to the upper middle class. Many of us did those thing and then languished in food service or retail for a period while struggling to make ends meet and coping with crushing student debt. The promise didn't pay off. And we resented the promiser.
For Indians, America is the promise. And you can sense that in this post. If you're going to work hard in India, get grades, pass tests all in the hopes that some richer country will let you in, then America is the destination of choice. You'll have friends and relatives who make it. If you get left behind, you'll see your cousin Rajesh posting a photo of his McMansion in Cincinnati. He'll be holding his little son, an American citizen, which means he'll have a hell of a time being deported even if his H1B falls through. He'll be with his beautiful wife, because families in your home village were eager to throw their daughters at him. And, if after 15 years he becomes an American citizen, he will be able to sponsor other relatives for green card consideration -- a huge boon to the family. And, he'll be making more money than he could anywhere else in the world even though he's working at a discount compared to every other American citizen.
Why is he working at a discount? Because the ability to offer him legal residency in the US and all of the status and opportunity that comes with that ESPECIALLY to his friends and neighbors back home and especially in terms of his children being American citizens is HUGELY valuable. The government giving his employer the opportunity to do that are subsidizing his wages to compete against American citizens. And in doing so, they've created a situation where the whole world in general, but subcontinentals in particular, think they are getting cheated if they can't come here.
Obviously, I'm not in favor of this arrangement. It is grossly unfair to Americans. H1Bs, insofar as they're needed, should come at a cost to the company that wants to issue them. They should be paying more than they would pay any American in that role, and they should be paying a tax on top of that to the government. A tariff on foreign labor if you will. Otherwise we are stuck in this gross situation that breeds resentment.
The political process will naturally take any government expenditure and turn it into a patronage program. How are you going to do politics unless you take from your enemies and give to your friends? Since I don't think this thing can remain apolitical, the options are to destroy it or to make it a place to park political allies. Leave it alone isn't a choice.
More options
Context Copy link