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Optimistically, the academics leaving the USA are the ones most ideologically captured, such that their contributions to knowledge production is easily replaceable or even a net negative, as is the case for much of what is purportedly being cut by DOGE. Given how academia has been pushing for the model of uplifting people by putting them into these institutions versus the the model of putting people into these institutions based on their ability to contribute to knowledge production for a couple of generations now, it wouldn't surprise me if even a solid majority of academics could leave the USA and leave the USA's academia better off for it.
Pessimistically, there's enough damage to funding in even in the most productive portions of academia, such that plenty of the academics leaving the USA really do create a "brain drain." I'd guess that academics doing actual good knowledge production are most likely to have the resources and options to pick up their lives and move to another continent, after all.
It really speaks to the immense wealth and prosperity of the western world that academic institutions are able to support so many unproductive and anti-productive academics; is it worth it to get rid of many of those, even at the cost of some loss of the productive ones? Or do we accept those as the cost for maximizing the amount of actual productive academics? The shape of the data probably matters a lot for whatever conclusion one draws. If we're looking at a 10-90 proportion of productive-un/anti-productive academics, and we can cut 50% of the latter while cutting 1% of the former, that sounds like that'd be worth it, whereas if cutting 1% of the latter results in cutting 50% of the former, that probably isn't.
Which then takes us a step back to the fact that we no longer have any credible institutions to tell us what the data looks like. The past decade has seen mainstream journalism outlets constantly discrediting themselves, especially with respect to politics surrounding Trump and his allies, and non-mainstream ones don't have a great track record by my lights, either. So I guess we'll see.
In terms of scientific research of the sort that would make USA stronger relative to other countries, like rocketry or nuclear physics in the past, it seems to me that AI is the most relevant field, where I perceive USA as still being most attractive for AI researchers. At least in the private sector, where a lot of the developments seem to be taking place. The part about that that worries me the most is the actual hardware the AI runs on, which basically universally are produced elsewhere, which is a mostly separate issue from the brain drain.
How fast from "there is no such thing as a limited freedom of speech" to "just fire them"...
Getting fired has nothing to do with free speech. The principle of free speech is that the government cannot prevent you from speaking. It does not mean the government is obligated to protect your job in the event your boss doesn’t like what you’re saying or to keep you on staff in a university.
It also doesn’t mean that you can protest in any way you like. You are free to March around with signs. You are not free to block access to buildings, harass people, deface property, or block traffic.
This is a particularly American understanding of free speech, in that the US constitution prohibits the government from restricting speech.
But it isn't the be all and end all of the principle of free speech. When JS Mill was writing about free speech, he starts be assuming no government coercion whatsoever, instead talking about public opinion.
It seems pretty obvious to me that 'you can have any political opinions you want, except these ones. If you have these opinions you will get fired' is not meaningful freedom of speech, if applied more generally.
I wouldn't call it "American" as such. Lots of Americans properly understand the difference between freedom of speech and the first amendment to our constitution. It's an ignorant understanding, not an American one imo.
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