[FRIAM] So much for U.S. competitiveness
glen
gepropella at gmail.com
Mon Feb 10 11:05:28 EST 2025
There are many things that make me *want* to be an apologist for this administration. E.g. I had no idea about the Expropriation Act until our admin brought it to my attention: https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/811113/da-takes-the-expropriation-act-to-court/
Another e.g.: It seems to me that people like Cory Doctorow, socialists, critical theorists, anarchists, etc. have the opportunity to view Elno et al as temporary allies. Although the "surgical" efforts of dismantling systemic racism in our institutions was working very slowly, Elno and company's actions will most likely cause critical collapses in several domains. And as the good parts of such infrastructure collapse, so will the bad parts [⛧]. The rhetoric of the critics of [neo]liberalism, including the wealth accumulation of sometime allies like Nancy Pelosi, *could* be intensified and percolated strategically so that as everyone (but the rich) suffers from the collapses, that rhetoric could set the stage for a more well-founded build-up.
I know this sounds like optimism. But it's not. Everyone's going to suffer for a very long time in the chaos. It would be more like a retreat and regroup, the old adage that chaos brings opportunity. The "liberals" won't do this. They'll sturm and drang, doomscroll, woe is me. But the "hungry" anarchists, socialists, etc. ... the strategists ... could begin a reconstruction.
[⛧] I mean ... I agree that the NIH, NSF, DOE, DOD, etc. do *very* important fundamental research. But Oh . My . God . the bureacratic grantsmanship involved is so byzantine/labrythian that if you don't have an *indirect* staff to whip out these grant applications in just the right way and with just the right timing, you'll never see that funding anyway. On a recent application, we simply couldn't include one collaborating group because they insisted on hiring a prompt engineer and paying them a 6 figure salary. But with multiple institutions each with ~50% overhead, it burst the budget and we figured we could get by on grad student slavery. If this infrastructure collapses, I won't miss that part of it.
On 2/9/25 7:23 PM, Pieter Steenekamp wrote:
> > I also saw (but didn't click through) a piece (on another outlet feed) that Trump had offered (minority/oppressed) White South Africans "refugee status" in the US and was rejected. It
> > sounds like more of his culture-war stirring even if it fell flat.
>
> This is big news here in South Africa, but I prefer to stay out of it. I am an Afrikaner, but I feel ashamed that (probably all?) Afrikaner organizations are racist, so I don’t associate with them. Fortunately, they have little real influence on what actually happens here, though they have a loud presence in national debates, so I don’t see a reason to follow this discussion.
>
> Just to clarify, there are prominent and very influential Afrikaners who are definitely not racist, but they don’t bother with Afrikaner organizations. I also believe that most Afrikaners are not racist.
>
> On Sun, 9 Feb 2025 at 20:00, Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com <mailto:marcus at snoutfarm.com>> wrote:
>
> The problem is not discretionary spending like R&D. The problem is Medicare.____
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> *From:*Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com>> *On Behalf Of *Pieter Steenekamp
> *Sent:* Saturday, February 8, 2025 11:07 PM
> *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com <mailto:friam at redfish.com>>
> *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] So much for U.S. competitiveness____
>
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> From U.S. competitiveness, science funding and oil exploration boosting , I wish to add spiralling debt that might just crash the party — uninvited. With total debt racing toward $40 trillion and growing by $2 trillion a year, something’s bound to snap. Back in the Clinton days, Al Gore helped cut wasteful spending, and they nearly balanced the budget. But then Bush heard, “Deficits don’t matter,” and took it to heart. Since then, it’s been a downhill ride, with Biden making new records — just not the good kind.
>
> I’m not American, but if I were, I’d be searching for the receipt to return this mountain of debt before the whole system collapses. Might be time to hit the brakes. Betting on a bankrupt country to stay competitive doesn’t seem like a smart move.____
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> On Sat, 8 Feb 2025 at 23:56, Santafe <desmith at santafe.edu <mailto:desmith at santafe.edu>> wrote:____
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> Thanks for these, Marcus,____
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> Eric____
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> On Feb 8, 2025, at 12:44, Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com <mailto:marcus at snoutfarm.com>> wrote:____
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> From Copilot. (Of course, this is prior to Trump 2.0.)
>
> Here's the updated table with science funding as a percentage of GDP, including health research budgets (like the NIH), fundamental research (like the DOE Office of Science and NSF), and defense-related research (like IARPA, DARPA, and nuclear weapons), along with the complete footnotes:____
>
> *Country*____
>
>
>
> *Total R&D Spending (% of GDP)*____
>
>
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> *Health Research (% of GDP)*____
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>
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> *Fundamental Research (% of GDP)*____
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>
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> *Defense-Related Research (% of GDP)*____
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> Israel____
>
>
>
> 4.9%____
>
>
>
> 1.0%____
>
>
>
> 2.0%____
>
>
>
> 1.9%____
>
> South Korea____
>
>
>
> 4.5%____
>
>
>
> 0.9%____
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>
>
> 2.2%____
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>
>
> 1.4%____
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> Sweden____
>
>
>
> 3.4%____
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>
>
> 0.7%____
>
>
>
> 1.7%____
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>
>
> 1.0%____
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> Germany____
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>
>
> 3.1%____
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>
>
> 0.6%____
>
>
>
> 1.5%____
>
>
>
> 1.0%____
>
> Denmark____
>
>
>
> 2.9%____
>
>
>
> 0.6%____
>
>
>
> 1.5%____
>
>
>
> 0.8%____
>
> United States____
>
>
>
> 2.8%____
>
>
>
> 0.6%____
>
>
>
> 1.4%____
>
>
>
> 0.8%____
>
> France____
>
>
>
> 2.2%____
>
>
>
> 0.4%____
>
>
>
> 1.1%____
>
>
>
> 0.7%____
>
> China____
>
>
>
> 2.2%____
>
>
>
> 0.4%____
>
>
>
> 1.1%____
>
>
>
> 0.7%____
>
> Saudi Arabia____
>
>
>
> 1.0%____
>
>
>
> 0.2%____
>
>
>
> 0.5%____
>
>
>
> 0.3%____
>
> United Kingdom____
>
>
>
> 1.7%____
>
>
>
> 0.3%____
>
>
>
> 0.9%____
>
>
>
> 0.5%____
>
> UAE____
>
>
>
> 1.3%____
>
>
>
> 0.3%____
>
>
>
> 0.7%____
>
>
>
> 0.3%____
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> India____
>
>
>
> 0.7%____
>
>
>
> 0.1%____
>
>
>
> 0.4%____
>
>
>
> 0.2%____
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> Chile____
>
>
>
> 0.6%____
>
>
>
> 0.1%____
>
>
>
> 0.3%____
>
>
>
> 0.2%____
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> Argentina____
>
>
>
> 0.5%____
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>
>
> 0.1%____
>
>
>
> 0.3%____
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>
>
> 0.1%____
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> Uruguay____
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>
>
> 0.4%____
>
>
>
> 0.1%____
>
>
>
> 0.2%____
>
>
>
> 0.1%____
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> Kazakhstan____
>
>
>
> 0.2%____
>
>
>
> 0.0%____
>
>
>
> 0.1%____
>
>
>
> 0.1%____
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> Uganda____
>
>
>
> 0.1%____
>
>
>
> 0.0%____
>
>
>
> 0.0%____
>
>
>
> 0.0%____
>
> These values are estimates based on available data and may vary slightly depending on the source.____
>
> 1. *List of sovereign states by research and development spending*- This source provides information on R&D spending by country, including data from the World Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.____
> 2. *R&D expenditure by country 2022*- This source from Statista provides detailed statistics on R&D spending by country, including health and technology sectors.____
> 3. *How much does your country invest in R&D?*- This UNESCO source provides data on R&D spending as a percentage of GDP and in purchasing power parity dollars.____
> 4. *Federal Research and Development (R&D) Funding: FY2024*- This Congressional Research Service report provides detailed information on federal R&D funding in the United States, including breakdowns by health, fundamental research, and defense-related research.____
> 5. *Federal R&D Funding, by Budget Function 2023-2025*- This National Science Foundation source provides data on federal budget authority for R&D by functional categories and agency.____
> 6. *Federal Research and Development R&D Funding: FY2023*- This Congressional Research Service report provides additional information on federal R&D funding in the United States.____
>
> ____
>
> ____
>
> *From: *Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com <mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com>> on behalf of Santafe <desmith at santafe.edu <mailto:desmith at santafe.edu>>
> *Date: *Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 1:51 AM
> *To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam at redfish.com <mailto:friam at redfish.com>>
> *Subject: *Re: [FRIAM] So much for U.S. competitiveness____
>
> Would be interesting to see a list of various categories of science funding per capita or per GDP for countries around the world. Situate the prospective US in this list. Will our society be like that of Kazakhstan? Or maybe like Uganda? Probably well below Uruguay or Argentina or Chile. ____
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> Want a direct visual image that can be delivered, about the style of day-to-day life that the mob is requesting for itself.____
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> On Feb 7, 2025, at 22:34, Marcus Daniels <marcus at snoutfarm.com <mailto:marcus at snoutfarm.com>> wrote:____
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> https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/new-nih-policy-will-slash-support-money-to-research-universities/ <https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/new-nih-policy-will-slash-support-money-to-research-universities/>
> https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/white-house-budget-proposal-could-shatter-the-national-science-foundation/ <https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/02/white-house-budget-proposal-could-shatter-the-national-science-foundation/>____
>
> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ... --- -- .
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¡sıɹƎ ןıɐH ⊥ ɐןןǝdoɹ ǝ uǝןƃ
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