I'm a retired lawyer who worked in contract administration at a large aerospace firm from 1950 to 1963. I had a staff position [that] put me in contact with much of the top brass, as well as engineers and scientists involved in such programs as the Atlas and Minuteman ICBMs and the Apollo moon mission.
During those years, the engineers and scientists I was in contact with had it pretty good, what with so many contractors bidding for their services. But I was able to see even then that scientists were probably in for hard times, once the cold war was over.
Part of the problem facing the scientific community1 is the fact that almost all scientists have a very strong sense of rationality and ethics, whereas the people who are able to gain control over the industries that hire them are not handicapped with those emotional limitations. I say ...
