Comment by JumpCrisscross

6 hours ago

Everyone is paying for these resources. It’s fair for everyone to understand why they’re worth it.

Is it? Does this same deal apply to, say, Area 51? Esoteric physics research? The details of mRNA vaccine production?

We have experts because we can't all possibly understand everything.

  • Deep expertise is not a blank check for funding. There is only so much money to go around and at some point you have to articulate your value to those paying for it (in this case, the tax payers and their representatives).

    Yes, this means a high level summary generally focused on ends rather than the gory details of the means.

    An expert acting in good faith should be able to provide this or, in the spirit of the Feynman technique, I would argue they aren't much of an expert at all.

    • > Deep expertise is not a blank check for funding.

      Sure. But the people vetting your proposals should have useful expertise in assessing it. Individual grant proposals for scientific research should essentially never be something a congressional rep is deciding on.

      Someone needs to assess, say, the B-21's radar absorbent coating project, but it'd be a mistake to think some random pediatrician is the right one to do it.

      3 replies →