Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

science.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 1001 posts

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#71

Post by lanstin »

robbiewxyz wrote: post #8
bawolff wrote: post #4

Seems like a good opportunity for other countries to recruit scientists. I think its underappreciated how much of America's modern success comes down to attracting scientists and intellectuals from war torn europe in the 30s-50s.

I hold the idea that brain drain, i.e. emigration of skilled people, is one of only a small handful of real methods to hold fascism to account. With that, as things start to get real bad it seems leaving is something of a moral duty for anyone who cares, has skills that hold real weight, and can still afford to do so. Obviously where this "real bad" point is is hard to say, and there's important tradeoffs to consider…

And really who would choose to stay in 1938 Germany if you could leave. Even if you are some rich upper class Herr Doktor Professor, life for the next 20 years in Germany wasn't that great compared to England or the US. Why risk having your children killed paratrooping into Greenland. The world is still quite beautiful and quite full of kind people.

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#72

Post by nyc_data_geek1 »

dekhn wrote: post #24
nyc_data_geek1 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very clear once you realize the people perpetrating this don't care one whit for the "economy" writ large, only their personal wealth and that of their cronies. The dumber, meaner and more desperate the population is, the easier the time they think they'll have ruling over them, as unto kings in this new gilded age. Of course, they forget what came after the gilded age. It's raining stockbrokers - err, oligarchs…

that's bad strategic thinking (obviously) because it places at a huge disadvantage to our main competitors.

What makes you think they care?

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#73

Post by UncleOxidant »

unsnap_biceps wrote: post #12
dan_can_code wrote: post #3

The cynic in me thinks that the US is going to roll over and take this fascist shake down. The optimist in me thinks that the people will rise up with a resounding NO and do something about it. Right now I'm not sure which I believe.

I think the former is most likely. The people are largely unhappy with how things have been and it's unlikely to get materially worse for the majority of people in the near term, so I don't think there will be a fire lit under enough of the population to rise up. If it gets bad enough that most people are starving, rather then just struggling, we'll see action, but I doubt it'll get there anytime soon.

The majority of americans aren't paying much attention and aren't going to notice things are off until things have really gone off the rails, but by then it'll be too late. There's also a lot of "It can't happen here" attitude (apparently because we're special or something) which is exactly the kind of conditions that make it more likely to happen.

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#75

Post by whatthedangit »

joe_the_user wrote: post #54
dan_can_code wrote: post #3

The cynic in me thinks that the US is going to roll over and take this fascist shake down. The optimist in me thinks that the people will rise up with a resounding NO and do something about it. Right now I'm not sure which I believe.

The thing I find strange is that the other wealthy and powerful stand for the destruction of things that gave the US a huge competitive advantage. The average person isn't hit immediately by the destruction of science. But a far-sighted person with some power should by self-interest not want this. And this, I think, points to the corruption of the entire political class in America with just being upshot.

I believe that what we're not accounting for is the belief among many wealthy people that scientific research and all other intellectual labor will soon be automated by AI.

I believe that what those wealthy people aren't accounting for is the need for some class of humans to act as a translation layer between the expert AI systems and the rest of us in order to allow the discoveries and results to percolate through human institutions.

Or, rather, they may be underestimating the bottleneck that will be introduced by trying to hoard all of those results within their own circles of trust and influence.

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#76

Post by csa »

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #37
csa wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The cynic in me thinks that the US is going to roll over and take this fascist shake down. The optimist in me thinks that the people will rise up with a resounding NO and do something about it. Right now I'm not sure which I believe. At this point, almost certainly the former. 1. Most Trump supporters do not think that there is a problem. 2. “Regular people” — that is, the folks who don’t track news — won’t notice…

These "regular people" that you seem to condescendingly speak about absolutely notice it at the pump and at the grocery store. They aren't mindless robots.

> These "regular people" that you seem to condescendingly speak about

There was zero condescension in my tone or intent.

I put “regular people” in quotes simply because I think most people who do follow the news absolutely don’t realize that the vast majority of people don’t.

A simple litmus test for this is to ask random people you meet outside of your personal social and professional circles (e.g., the front desk person at the gym, a cashier at a grocery store, a rideshare driver… whatever) a simple question like “Who are our US senators?” or “What is the NIH?” I’ve done this, and the sentiment was largely “don’t know, don’t care”.

This isn’t a criticism. It’s just an observation that some issues that some folks on HN care about (e.g., details about how lesser known parts of the government function — for example, what’s happening at the NIH and NSF) just aren’t on the radar for large swathes of the population.

> absolutely notice it at the pump and at the grocery store. They aren't mindless robots.

I think we agree on this, right?

And my point is that price changes for most things won’t hit immediately.

1. There have been delays in most of the tariffs.

2. The impact of some tariffs will take longer to hit than others. Fresh food will be fast. Goods with longer shelf lives canned goods, alcohol, and prepared foods might take a while.

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#77

Post by tehjoker »

freshpots wrote: post #51
mjfl wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reposting because my previous comment was unjustly flagged: The US just facilitated a genocide in the previous administration. This is not just me saying this - this is the consensus ruling of the International Court of Justice at the UN.

Barring all of the hyperbole of your comment, I find it astounding how you're unaware of this with such a "thumb on the pulse" of world news: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/feb/04/benjamin-... Trump said Palestinians have “no alternative” but to “permanently” leave Gaza due to the devastation left by Israel’s war on Hamas. He described Gaza as a “pure demolition site” and claimed Palestinians would “love…

> Trump is literally for completely ridding Gaza of the Palestinians so Israel can colonize it. An ACTUAL genocide.

This was the goal of the Biden administration. The difference now is that without Israel demolishing Gaza every day, the resistance has demonstrated they cannot be dislodged. Trump has no credibility. They simply cannot do it and both the U.S. and Israeli officials that enabled this are war criminals that should be prosecuted immediately.

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#78

Post by bloopernova »

joe_the_user wrote: post #54
dan_can_code wrote: post #3

The cynic in me thinks that the US is going to roll over and take this fascist shake down. The optimist in me thinks that the people will rise up with a resounding NO and do something about it. Right now I'm not sure which I believe.

The thing I find strange is that the other wealthy and powerful stand for the destruction of things that gave the US a huge competitive advantage. The average person isn't hit immediately by the destruction of science. But a far-sighted person with some power should by self-interest not want this. And this, I think, points to the corruption of the entire political class in America with just being upshot.

The wealthy will just take their money and leave the country.

And for all you HN readers supporting these massive changes: you'd test changes beforehand and plan their deployment carefully if this were software. So why why do you support explicitly not doing those things when the livelihood of 300 million people depend on the economy being stable?!?

And before the inevitable derail or whatabout attempt: Don't play political games with people's lives.

And, again, everything is political, including every aspect of discussions on HN.

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#79

Post by angoragoats »

pizzafeelsright wrote: post #44
Damogran6 wrote: post #18

[flagged]

What books did "they" burn? I'm asking about the actual books.

Are you asking about the Nazis in Germany? The first major book burning was in Berlin at the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexual Research) where they burned thousands of books containing information about, among other things, LGBT people.

Or are you asking about the current situation? They’re trying to burn all of it —- any research papers funded by the NSF or NIH.

Re: What's happening inside the NIH and NSF

#80

Post by SkipperCat »

icnexbe7 wrote: post #48

[flagged]

You have no evidence to back any of this up. You're just trying to flood the zone with bullshit in order to smoke screen the destruction of our liberal society. And I mean liberal in the classic sense of holding the truth paramount in science, law and society.
Post reply on HN