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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.
That's why conservatives have no problem with private bodies (e.g. social media) censoring right wing opinions I suppose.
Have you forgotten that they were doing much of this censorship at government behest?
Yes, but what made it bad is not that the government was involved. What made it bad was that the content of what was pushed was bad, and what was good was blocked.
Free speech just isn’t coherent outside a reasonably monocultural environment. Nobody is actually going to fund or tolerate people who despise them and wish to destroy them.
What made it worst, in the American free speech tradition, is that the government was involved. Since every censor will tell you they're blocking what's bad and allowing what's good, and the fact that they ARE the censor means they have the power to make that claim, your version boils down to might makes right.
Yes. That is why I no longer advocate for free speech.
Firstly, the ‘only government shouldn’t censor’ line seems totally arbitrary to me - it’s okay if Twitter censors and whips up hostile mobs, but then it becomes unacceptable if they talked to an FBI agent before doing so. And once you move to a more expansive definition the whole thing just falls apart. If I don’t like what you say, can I avoid buying services from you? Can I suggest the same to my friend? Can I tell people I don’t hang out with people who say X and they shouldn’t either? If yes, you have social pressure and AstroTurfed boycotts, which doesn’t sound much like free speech to me. If no, then my free speech is being threatened.
Secondly, it feels quokka-like to the point of being suicidal. Why on Earth would I give free speech to people who are openly organising to deny me of it? To destroy my culture and to harm me personally?
Ultimately might DOES make right (as the British-supporting Americans who were forced to flee from Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness learned). I would rather pursue might than argue about rights with people who have no interest in my wellbeing.
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