there's science as in "STEM" and there's science as in "trust the science".
virtually everyone supports the former.
Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
21–30 of 89 posts
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#22U.S. literally invented the transformer just a couple years ago. I would argue that it is the rest of the world is lagging.
Seven of the eight authors of the influential 2017 AI paper "Attention Is All You Need" are immigrants to the United States. The remaining author is the grandson of refugees.
And the majority of them didn’t get their degrees from US universities.
No doubt Google was the catalyst though.
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#23>Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science Considering on the average 7/10 people either voted for Trump or didn't vote, (with Trump openly stating that he wants to neuter universities) Americans "think" they support science.
Americans think "supporting universities" is not necessarily the same as "supporting science."
I’d buy that if the winning party had presented a coherent plan fix the problems.
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#24The US is lagging by every reasonable measure. What has changed is primarily 2 things: 1) People in positions of authority are now openly anti-progress in an effort to pacify entrenched interests. 2) These same people are also openly anti-immigrant. In the past, a lot of science in the USA has been imported from other countries by way of immigration. Less science equals less/inferior technology which equals smaller e…
By what metric is the US lagging? By any objective measure we can see the dominance of US technology. I think it’s most of the rest of the world that’s being left behind; Europe in particular. If what you’re saying is true the US economy would also be flagging but it’s not. If what you’re saying is true, you’d see the list of the world’s most valuable companies dominated by non-US firms.
I think you are confusing the current climate of immigration enforcement and reform with being anti-immigration. The US will continue to draw top talent because the US is where the bulk of the opportunities are and will be for at least the next 5 years.
It’s been widely discussed that the immigration system has been abused, especially by the tech industry. This reform started under Obama. The current outcry is a reaction to the most recent federal election. Reform does not mean the US is anti-immigrant. It may mean lower levels of immigration that’s more selective for talent.
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#25there's science as in "STEM" and there's science as in "trust the science". virtually everyone supports the former.
In my experience, it’s the opposite. Virtually everyone supports using data to make decisions, unless the data could harm them or their tribe.
For example, requiring elaborate experiments and trials to help develop medicine so you or a loved one bear cancer? Sure.
But if you can make money hawking berries to cure cancer? No data needed.
If casting doubt on vaccines without data helps you feel superior? No problem. If it can help you win elections and get into a position of power? Even better.
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#26The US is lagging by every reasonable measure. What has changed is primarily 2 things: 1) People in positions of authority are now openly anti-progress in an effort to pacify entrenched interests. 2) These same people are also openly anti-immigrant. In the past, a lot of science in the USA has been imported from other countries by way of immigration. Less science equals less/inferior technology which equals smaller e…
The US is destroying it's own advantage. For decades the US was pulling the best and brightest from all over the world into its Universities and companies. Why would anybody think stopping that would lead to a 'Golden Age'.
Unfortunately it changed from "best and brightest" to "whoever could make it over the border" and "whoever would do the same job for less money".
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#27>Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science Considering on the average 7/10 people either voted for Trump or didn't vote, (with Trump openly stating that he wants to neuter universities) Americans "think" they support science.
Americans think "supporting universities" is not necessarily the same as "supporting science."
to be fair universities nowadays are more interested in supporting identity politics and liberal ideology than supporting science
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US is destroying it's own advantage. For decades the US was pulling the best and brightest from all over the world into its Universities and companies. Why would anybody think stopping that would lead to a 'Golden Age'.
Unfortunately it changed from "best and brightest" to "whoever could make it over the border" and "whoever would do the same job for less money".
Pretty sure "whoever could make it over the border" are not getting admitted to Harvard.
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#29The US is falling prey to what has become obscenely common in democracies of late : the "plebs" going after the elites, for reasons valid or otherwise.
This often means that they'll often go after academics and artists who stick out like a sour thumb, instead of financial/industrial/political elites who they more likely have a grouse with. This results in very bad negative effects in the long-term, which these actors themselves don't have much foresight for.
Reminds me of Pol Pot killing off anyone who knew a foreign language, or Mao luring out Intellectual elites and them wiping them off in the cultural revolution or the destruction of India/Africa's British-era universities with toxic caste/race-politics (or US's toxic woke-politics, and now its continued destruction by its mirror-image in populist fascism).
Really makes you question many of the tenets we take for granted in "democracies".
Re: Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging
#30The US has become a world leader in suing curious people into submission. As soon as you touch any commercially available tech and do anything that the manufacturer dislikes, you're at risk, thanks to § 1201: "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title." Extending your digital camera with new firmware? Illegal. Inventing a custom ink or add…
The US is the world leader in suing in general, and yet it produces a lot more research than most other legally friendly places... how's that?
I think some people overblow the lawsuit risk in the US. It really does suck here, however one of the benefits to certain types of innovation is that the US has a lot of IP protection infrastructure. Which stiffles innovation in a lot of ways, but also makes investment easier in some cases.