The Discussion Corner

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

"scientific research" cannot be generalised into one single topic - are we talking cancer, space, nano, quantum, what

putting money into medical stuff is fine, putting money into things relevant to modern scientific movements is fine, putting money into conjectural studies that aren't aiming to do anything is not fine

[Raiyuuni]

Patty clarified it even further in our PM discussion attempt.

Among all pioneering efforts, he was prioritising researches of purely abstract, theoretical nature, which do not seem to directly benefit society.

[Harmless]

Theoretical scientific research? Isn't that already inexpensive to begin with, and shouldn't require government funding?

[Doram]

Stickied because it deserves it.

[lordpat]

Wow, I don't know what to say. I will update the corner today, and I promise I will do better with the next topics.

EDIT: Oh, OJ, don't make me wrong, your topic was very intresting, but I should have made it better so that it was more clear and accesisble. I was also having some emotional problems, so I couldn't quite deal with the preassure at the time.

[Supershroom]

wait wait wait ...

for the function of state thing... an ideal state is distinguished by fluent legislature, well-functioning separation of powers, and also a finely running economy system. Without trying to be patriotic, I guess Germany is not so far away from an exemplary state ... of course it's never possible to satisfy everyone's needs.

for the governmental science thing... I think it's okay. There are state-run universities and there are non state-run universities. Science is supposed to bring us forward, and a safe education system is absolutely necessary for all following generations. Maybe you can argue about the priorities on how to use tax revenues, and indeed social welfare is a bit more important for me, but when money is put into progress and education, all of us benefit from it.

very dumb reply I know

[Oranjui]

It's fine, lul. I was just interested in seeing how people reacted to things like space exploration (which is ridiculously ♥♥♥♥ expensive and does not really directly benefit society in any way) or research particle colliders and stuff. That's what I meant by "theoretical," even though it's not technically theoretical research.


Anyway if you want my response: I'm short on time (and not really in the mood) so I can't write out a long post right now, but I fully support it for basically all of the reasons that everyone else said. Also want to point out that funding scientific research creates jobs for people who are actually interested in it, so it kind of boosts the economy in a way. There are obviously higher priorities, but to stop funding science would more problems (increase unemployment, destroy potential revolutionary medical or technological ideas, etc) than it would solve (getting rid of extra taxes, putting money toward stuff that will have direct effects on society, etc), in my eyes.

[Venexis]

This post by Venexis was thumbed up by:

Oranjui (March 22nd, 2015, 12:04 pm)

[Oranjui]

Nooooo nonononono. Don't get me wrong. I'm extremely supportive of space exploration/travel research. I'm just saying that it's not going to have any direct effect on us right now, or at least that's the perception that the general public has of it, unless we're actually like sending people to some other planet to start a colony where we can all eventually migrate to or something. But it still takes millions, if not billions, of dollars to develop and launch a single spacecraft, and often times there's a good chance that it's going to blow up or fall into the ocean or otherwise malfunction in some way.

Anyway you basically just said anything else that I would have wanted to.

[Harmless]

for the governmental science thing... I think it's okay. There are state-run universities and there are non state-run universities. Science is supposed to bring us forward, and a safe education system is absolutely necessary for all following generations. Maybe you can argue about the priorities on how to use tax revenues, and indeed social welfare is a bit more important for me, but when money is put into progress and education, all of us benefit from it.

I agree. Education is probably one of the biggest things we need to fix right now - In fact, you see a lot of this upcoming generation being horribly rude and ghetto like because of our faltering education, and the cutting of funds for schools.

for the function of state thing... an ideal state is distinguished by fluent legislature, well-functioning separation of powers, and also a finely running economy system. Without trying to be patriotic, I guess Germany is not so far away from an exemplary state ... of course it's never possible to satisfy everyone's needs.

It may not be possible to satisfy everyone's needs, but that's the trick. Without satisfying everyone's needs and making the civilians content, you're never going to run an ideal state. Making all the civilians happy - not just the poor but the rich as well, is ideal. I personally think economy, housing, easy-access hygiene, and strong leadership is what is required to form an ideal state.