Apparently the wingnut government has decided that government
research labs should be concentrating on science in the public interest
... oops, I mean, science in *industry's* interest. A major overhaul of
national science policy requires these labs to begin "Conducting
collaborative R&D projects with private industry, sharing the costs
and the risks."
Notice, that's research in the service of *existing* industries. So
government labs can help the current rich get richer, but may not create
whole new industries. An applied mathematician might describe this as:
you are allowed to climb toward the top of the hill you are on now, but
not allowed to jump to other hills which may reach much higher.
...And your applied mathematician consultant would tell you that this is
not a way likely to find a global maximum, merely a local one. Maybe
the Conservative government should listen to some scientists before
ruining science policy.
Unfortunately, this is just the latest in a series of wingnut
government attacks on science in Canada, which has included muzzling
scientists and shutting down the Experimental Lakes Area -- "Canada's
LHC," the world's leading site for critical research on freshwater
systems.
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