Friday, July 22, 2011
Quote without comment
Bureaucracy is a tool to keep the world as it is, not to change it. So, in perfect Tainter-style, the system works hard to avoid innovation, not to promote it. It is almost impossible to be financed to study resource depletion; that would highlight problems that would require changes and that's a no-no. Instead, it is still possible to obtain research grants as long as there is no risk that the results will threaten the status quo. Hydrogen as a fuel is a good example. It is high-tech, fashionable, sophisticated, popular, environmentally friendly, and it doesn't work. This last characteristic makes sure that its development will bring no changes whatsoever.—Ugo Bardi. ¶ 7/22/2011 07:44:00 AM
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One of my hobbyhorses is that it is OK for government to support research so long as it does it through X-Prizes for actually achieving a result - rather than getting a grant for being respected in the field by civil servants and politicians. I agree with Freeman Dyson that such prizes are up to 100 times more effective.
If one ingnores the fact that they do not provide the power of personal patronage it is impossible to explain why those in charge don't endorse prizes.
PS Thanks for the recent mention. I have added the links you gave to the LNT/hormesis listing.
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If one ingnores the fact that they do not provide the power of personal patronage it is impossible to explain why those in charge don't endorse prizes.
PS Thanks for the recent mention. I have added the links you gave to the LNT/hormesis listing.
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