Derek Thompson

And so in many cases, the problems that governance has and the problems that liberalism has developed rhyme across housing and energy and building and government and science and technology itself.

And so I do think it's one strength of the book is the degree to which without pushing on this rhyming too hard, you can see the same problems raise their head again and again and again in place after place.

And so I do think it's one strength of the book is the degree to which without pushing on this rhyming too hard, you can see the same problems raise their head again and again and again in place after place.

Yes.

Yes.

I think that the way that we fund science in this country is A, unbelievably important. The National Institutes of Health is probably the most important biomedical institution in the world. B, it hasn't changed very much in the last 70 years. And if you or anybody listening knows anything about bureaucracies, if a bureaucracy doesn't

I think that the way that we fund science in this country is A, unbelievably important. The National Institutes of Health is probably the most important biomedical institution in the world. B, it hasn't changed very much in the last 70 years. And if you or anybody listening knows anything about bureaucracies, if a bureaucracy doesn't

experience some kind of institutional renewal generation after generation, it's going to build a series of habits that even its practitioners agree are bad. And in fact, the scientists, the practitioners that I spoke to about the way the NIH works told me pretty much invariably that it was biased against the most important high-risk research, that it tended to waste scientists' time and

experience some kind of institutional renewal generation after generation, it's going to build a series of habits that even its practitioners agree are bad. And in fact, the scientists, the practitioners that I spoke to about the way the NIH works told me pretty much invariably that it was biased against the most important high-risk research, that it tended to waste scientists' time and

And that it advantaged conservative ideas and older scientists while we have a good understanding that much of the best work that's been done in scientific history have been radical ideas from young scientists. I mean, this is absolutely core to a Kuhnian theory of paradigm shifts, the idea that it was not a group of graybeards who came up with quantum mechanics in the 1900s, 1910s, 1920s.

And that it advantaged conservative ideas and older scientists while we have a good understanding that much of the best work that's been done in scientific history have been radical ideas from young scientists. I mean, this is absolutely core to a Kuhnian theory of paradigm shifts, the idea that it was not a group of graybeards who came up with quantum mechanics in the 1900s, 1910s, 1920s.

It was people like Einstein and Planck building on a couple discrepancies that they were finding in the record to build an entirely new theory of how the world works that has in fact been core to not only the development of nuclear power, but also the electronics revolution. Great ideas often come from young scientists, and it is young scientists who say the system isn't working.

It was people like Einstein and Planck building on a couple discrepancies that they were finding in the record to build an entirely new theory of how the world works that has in fact been core to not only the development of nuclear power, but also the electronics revolution. Great ideas often come from young scientists, and it is young scientists who say the system isn't working.

There's a great quote from John Dench, who serves as the director of research and development in functional genomics at the Broad Institute. And he told me people need to understand how broken the system is.

There's a great quote from John Dench, who serves as the director of research and development in functional genomics at the Broad Institute. And he told me people need to understand how broken the system is.

So many really intelligent people are wasting their time doing really, really uninteresting things, writing progress reports, coming up with modular budgets five years in advance of the science. I mean, again, you take so many of the criticisms and

So many really intelligent people are wasting their time doing really, really uninteresting things, writing progress reports, coming up with modular budgets five years in advance of the science. I mean, again, you take so many of the criticisms and

that you described about the construction of affordable housing at Tehanan, and you just change a few words here and there from funding source to public and public housing to, you know, R01 grants and checkboxes for scientific funding, and it's essentially the same story.

that you described about the construction of affordable housing at Tehanan, and you just change a few words here and there from funding source to public and public housing to, you know, R01 grants and checkboxes for scientific funding, and it's essentially the same story.

So we have, I think, an urgent need for institutional renewal at the National Institutes of Health, given how important their discoveries are to improving and extending human life. I don't think Elon Musk understands the first fucking thing about the NIH. I don't think he did any research.