Balaji Srinivasan - Exploring the Decentralized Science Reformation
Balaji Srinivasan - Exploring the Decentralized Science Reformation

Balaji Srinivasan - Exploring the Decentralized Science Reformation

Grants and Papers Summary: i think the entire vanovar bush thing of centralizing research around and after the time of oarto, has run its course. And sothi the fundamental thing holding back scientific progress globly is the choke point that is the us Government. The same cohort that started receiving nge grants has basy just aged, like roughly one year perjon. Transcript: Speaker 1 I think the entire vanovar bush thing of centralizing research around and after the time of oarto, has run its course. And sothi the fundamental thing holding back scientific progress globly is the choke point that is the us. Government. And what i mean by that is, you know, you'll often see people say, oh, basic research has to be federally funded. What about, you know, the intronet and the human genum and so and so forth. And it is true that there's been some, you now, great stuff that's come out of what i called the centralized in or ach establishment. But bastat has his concort of sene and unseen, and there's concert also, of crowding out. So all of these funds that were appropriated and centralized with the federal government, all the research ot a centralized here. There's a certain school of thought that comes where its, you know, grants and, ah, its papers. There's choke points that happen. And if you 've seem theres a graph that collison has posted that i've also posted a while ago, which shows that the same cohort that started receiving nge grants has basy just aged, like roughly one year perjon, the graph i'm talking about, you might be able to show it, ok? Son, it's a, you know, ange magnify ne grant recipients. Ye, here it is. It's kind o like, it's this, this ge gives a concept. So if you go into that and you scroll down a little bit, do you see tht wita fiscal udar the blue and the red iting there? Right? Basically, as years go by, that, you know, mode of the bell curve just shifts over roughly one year at a time. And so it's like the same cohort of people who are on each other's grant committees that are warding themtheselves stuff. (Time 0:07:15)

The Age of H Investigators Has Dropped Off Summary: The age of h investigators has dropped off. Much of mathematics and physics was discovered before n s f existed. There are a if you go further back, in fact, ou ow thermo dynamics and mechanics came out of experiments. And the engineering drove the science. Transcript: Speaker 1 Ye, here he goes. So take a look at that one. Say that, look at those two graphics. And the first one shows that like ono movie with leads, you know, less than 30 years old, we're very common. The nineties and two thousands are incredibly uncommon to day, and now 60 years old. Why is that? Because people are like, oh, merman, america was like, better. And you they want, they want tom crewz. They want, you know, these these proven stars. But those guys are aging. You know, you go to the next graphic, and you can just see, like the age of h investigators has dropped off. And, you know, tha saying like which is a, you know, it's like scince anceas one funeral at a time. If you've heard that, like, it's verery, like, obviously, it's a, it's very cynical, but it's also true in the sense that often things are not, you know, people of the old guard doesn't want to retract something or want to give in. But when they're no longer there to fight it, then, like, there can be progress that's made, you know. And a soso to to your question, that centralization, the one thing that ens ays, you'll get people like, you know, mariana masicato or others, who'll say, oh, all innovation is due to the state. And, um, you know, what about darpa? Why don't you give thanks to the great glory of the state for, you know, taking and taxing all the money from you and then dribbling a a little bit back to you in the form of researchletters? Right? And the thing about this is, if you go a little further back, obviously, much of mathematics and physics was discovered before n s f existed, you know, like maxwells equations was not n s f funded, you know, and neither was newton. There are a if you go further back in time, in fact, ou ow thermo dynamics and mechanics came out of experiments, and the empiricism of steam engines, like the engineering drove the science. (Time 0:09:30)

Project Dash Evidence Summary: Science like the project dash evidence, kidu dot ao, or sitocinacmotos white paper are now almost conventional wisdom. It's probably not the kind of thing that you could easily get published in traditional academia because it spans so many anc is not thought of as a good concept. But he could put it out on the internet. So to your question, the key factor is centralization. 19 50 was arguably peake centralization. Andsnont just gentlemen, but gentlewomen and gentlemen too. Transcript: Speaker 1 Andsnont just gentlemen, but gentlewomen and gentle pseudonym science like the a, like the project dash evidence, kidu dot ao, or sitocinacmotos white paper, those are things which, you know, while, you know, they're now very highly cighted, at least certainly the, you know, the stuchnac motoe, the con wiper, is very highly sited in traditional academia. It's probably not the kind of thing that you could easily get published in traditional academia, because it spans so many anc is not thought of as a good concept. But he could put it out on the internet. And, you know, project evidence, i get about that's now almost conventional wisdom. I treated about this in a, you know, like march, april 20, twentieth, which was basi evidence for lableak thesis, when that was highly, you know, controversial. O, my god, conspiracy theory. O, it's almost conventional wisdom right now that basically, you know, it's politically useful. It is almost conventional wisdom. But it's not so much that the facts have changed. The trail, an sol mass gone colder. So to your question, the key factor is centralization. And that might have actually had some benefits, ok an sense, during that period, they may have also been, in a sense, inevitable. 19 50 was arguably peake centralization. I talk about this in the network shape book, yod, one telephone company and two super powers and three television stations, or rather, a, t and t, write near the us. And (Time 0:12:03)

Are You Goin to Be able to Break In? Summary: i think it's somewhat framed incorrectly. It's all a bit like, how would you allow india to flourish if you were in control of the british rage in 19 forty somethinn right? And my answer is, i'd free india, right? Right? I'd let india be free, and i'd let them, you know, go and, youknow, build up their own country and do it independently. If given full control, i would give up full control. How would we do that? Um, a senti t what we want to do is shatter the entire thing into many different funding sources. What i do think, just like i don Transcript: Speaker 1 So, you know, this is like, you know, the an h budge is actually pretty large, at several billion dollars a year, um, you know, much of this now starting to be taken over by people doing till fellowship like things, and getting academics out to kind of just go and do tex start ups. Am, so several different things. First is, am, i think it's somewhat framed incorrectly. This analogous kind of test a lool at the framing of the question, which is, sura. It's all a bit like, how would you allow india to flourish if you were in control of the british rage in 19 forty somethinn right? And my answer is, i'd free india, right? Right? I'd let india be free, and i'd let them, you know, go and, you know, build up their own country and do it independently. And so, if given full control, i would give up full control. Andow, how would we do that? Um, a senti t what we want to do is shatter the entire thing into many different funding sources. Im, you know, like the thing about this is, are you goin to be able to break in? I age this way, you're not. I don't actually. So it is almost like a, not a very useful thought experment. What i do think, just like i don't believe you can abolish the fat, like rand paul wanted, i do believe you can exit the fat, ok? And in i, ah, ushi giant jobs programme. And, ah, you know, nnisf is also basy like this, but smaller. (Time 0:14:32)