I normally try to avoid posting articles behind registration sites, but I will make an exception occasionally for important articles behind sites that require only free registration as does this website.
The article is an important posting for my website because it points to another example of the growing influence of capitalists over every sector of US society. In this piece the author reports that there is a parallel trend of cuts to government funding of science research with an explosion of privately funded research. Billionaires, who are rewarded with tax deductions, are donating their tax money instead to their favorite research projects. (Of course, their sponsorship of Congress gives them influence over the tax laws.) Thus, the latter are having a much bigger influence than ever before on the types of science research that is being performed.
...personal setting of priorities is precisely what troubles some in the science establishment. Many of the patrons, they say, are ignoring basic research — the kind that investigates the riddles of nature and has produced centuries of breakthroughs, even whole industries — for a jumble of popular, feel-good fields like environmental studies and space exploration.Other negative consequences? Well, they are touched on throughout the article, but they are frequently balanced, if not overwhelmed, by positive testimonials and a lot of information about the enormous funding that billionaires devote to their pet projects. Yes, basic research will suffer because billionaires like to focus on such "practical things as drugs, jets and gadgets, rather than fundamental insights into the mysteries of nature." Also, with regard to diseases, they are more likely to donate to finding cures for diseases that affect white people. Barely mentioned is the fact that the interests of billionaires might influence the findings of research itself which we've seen with regard to climate change.
