But even if conditions prove constraining in the short run, a long-run view of American science should provide some cause for hope. However, finding a path out of the predicament in which the basic research community currently finds itself will not be easy, nor will the results be inevitable. Rather, it is likely to depend on decisions being made right now by university leaders. It also may depend to a great extent on the influence exerted by academic scientists involved in basic research.
Prompted in part by the current pessimism, I attempted to take a long-run view of the prospects for academic science in a paper for last winter's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A simple question had for some time been in the back of my mind: In a society largely based on science and technology, will an increasing proportion of social resources be ...
