* A robust government demands answers for the investment of public wealth, whereas a healthy scientific research effort will measure success by generating some answers and a lot more questions.
* The public must be able to ascertain what it gets for its investment more swiftly than most research projects require for their completion; and elected representatives of the public naturally want to show results for their supportive votes.
* The resulting tension between scientists and policymakers cannot be resolved: Public representatives in legislatures want tangible results, which are the product of technology rather than the direct product of science; public servants in the science bureaus try to balance competing demands and avoid mistakes.
Given the hazards, my suggested correctives are delivered in the hope that while they will not quickly resolve past negative consequences of public endowments, they might diminish their continued generation. They are geared to support advances ...
