This is what happens

Headline: Columbia funding cuts set dangerous precedent

This is what happens when you let politicians sponsor your research.

The truly dangerous precedent was set in 1946, not 2025.

Dependence on federal money started in 1946, and the danger was already obvious by 1958. My dad saw it, and a much more famous dude named Eisenhower saw it and warned us about it. We kept doing more and more federal grants, but in those years we were ALSO doing lots of research the right way. Product-oriented industrial research was strong in all types of business and all parts of the country. Institutional research sponsored by industry (Bell Labs and many other facilities) was also strong.

Everything blew up in 1980 when Wall Street resumed its blitzkrieg LBO bombing. Whole industries were gone, dams were gone, nuclear power was gone, Bell Labs was sold off and dissolved.

After that, the only research was sponsored by politicians.

Researchers always know what politicians want. Every grant is written to sell the proposal to politicians. The selling was easy before 2025 because all politicians agreed on most issues. Repooflicans sometimes cut funding for agriculture because farmers were a reliable automatic vote, but that was all. Both sides loved Diversity and Gaia equally.

Now Trump is starting to disagree on the subjects that were formerly constant. The basic problem is visible again after being hidden for 40 years.

EXPERIMENTATION REQUIRES STABILITY.

By definition a good experiment holds most factors constant while varying the one factor that needs to be measured and checked. The same rule applies to the whole lab.

A productive research lab, like a productive business, develops its skills and equipment gradually, holding people and equipment and funding constant while varying the distinct problems it tries to solve. A productive enterprise doesn’t fire people who aren’t maximally effective this month or this week.

Our total devotion to Share Value has lost this concept entirely. Share Value depends on instability. Arbitrage requires fast change. In other words, arbitrage rewards psychopaths.

When you let politicians decide your money, you MUST be political, and you MUST follow the shifting tides of fake Machiavellian “issues”. When the politicians come from the superfast arbitrage world of Tech Tyrants, the fake “issues” shift at Github speed, like the daily updates of programs that require you to spend all your time revising and relearning how to use your tools. When the hammer shifts its shape every day, you have no time or energy left for building houses.

The oldest solution to this problem is still running. Trinity House has been operating for 500 years. It sponsors research in specific areas relating to shipping and ports, and its money comes from ships reaching port safely. Its motivation is fully aligned with its actions. More problems solved = more money coming in. More money = more ability to solve problems.

Bell Labs worked in a wide variety of areas, always aimed at improving telephone service in every possible way. Some of the subjects seemed irrelevant. Bell trusted its employees to think far ahead and far afield while working toward the single purpose. You can’t think ahead when your money depends on daily arbitrage and debts and politicians.