China now the most prolific contributor to physical sciences, engineering, math

Post by alfredallan » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 6:58 AM UTC

Eridrus wrote: post #80

throwaway713 wrote: post #36

The quality debate about scientific merit aside, if the U.S. wants to remain "the best", then we need to incentivize the best scientists and researchers in other countries to come here and become U.S. citizens. A lot of famous physicists, mathematicians, and logicians have done this over the past 100 years. Unfortunately, the attractiveness of becoming a U.S. citizen is waning because (1) current U.S. policies on sci…

I think the point that most grad programs don't have US students is revealing - for those who have alternative entry into the US economy, most people decide that a PhD program is a poor choice. Most of the things people work on in their PhD programs are very niche, and most do not work in academia or on the same thing after they finish their PhD. And most people never really make a noticeable contribution to science…

Post by beambot » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 7:01 AM UTC

malandrew wrote: post #133

nicodjimenez wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People over-obsess about how China is beating us in science and technology, and not enough about how China is becoming so entrepreneurial while US citizens are becoming extremely risk averse.

Regulation and government involvement is also contributing to lower entrepreneurialism in the US.

Post by vkou » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 7:04 AM UTC

arcanus wrote: post #58

hatmatrix wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> current U.S. policies on science are extremely unfavorable to foreign researchers To U.S. researchers also - the proposal funding rate is so low on account of the resource/PI ratio that many U.S. researchers are moving to Europe where there is greater promise of hard funding.

The USA spends more on R+D in aggregate and more as a percentage of GDP than the European Union[1]. It is not substantially easier to get a Professorship or permanent research appointment in Europe than the USA, at least generally speaking. Without data to back it up, I don't see how this comment holds up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_research_...

Post by Tharkun » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 7:27 AM UTC

throwaway713 wrote: post #36

The quality debate about scientific merit aside, if the U.S. wants to remain "the best", then we need to incentivize the best scientists and researchers in other countries to come here and become U.S. citizens. A lot of famous physicists, mathematicians, and logicians have done this over the past 100 years. Unfortunately, the attractiveness of becoming a U.S. citizen is waning because (1) current U.S. policies on sci…

Post by tomc1985 » Thu, Sep 13, 2018, 7:37 AM UTC

bitxbit wrote: post #87

lovich wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My home towns school stopped giving homework when I was in high school because the budget ran out for paper halfway through the year. There may be unparalleled access to science research in the US, but it is unevenly distributed

As a parent, I agree with you 100% and this is a big problem in the US because quality of teaching has gone down drastically over the past twenty years. I think teaching in public schools should be a mandatory public service (or highly incentivized ie loan forgiveness) for college graduates.