Michael Perelman brings up the corporatization of science as being one of the silent issues of the lbo list. To me that is a sideshow in the larger decay that I see in the U.S. working class I'm embedded in. I have been aware myself that major research centers have been cut back (Bell labs, Livermore, Sandia, etc.), and there is an on-going loss of research in the universities. I mean that filters down to working class guys like me. But aside from muck raking, these science related deteriations in the U.S., and how else can one call the corporatization but deteriation, can't be reversed unless the systemic issues are more forcefully addressed. Clinton certainly won't do a damn for science.
Disinterested science seems like an oxymoron to me. I suppose there are a few Paul Erdos types out there. You must mean science that isn't defined by the quickest profit, not disinterested.
Tom Lehman wrote that Japan is finishing up a new bridge between islands. This public work project represents the long standing attempt by the LDP to spend money to fix the financial mess at home. My question remains; what are the options left to Japan. Their options are narrowing to stop a deflation from over taking the world economy. Why are the Japanese decisive, instead of the U.S. dominated IMF (and I don't mean repeating they have a big savings to offset their loan mess)? Is there any reason that the policies that the U.S. advocates wouldn't drastically uproot Japan's culture? Isn't that the main drag upon so-called reforms in Japan. A decade ago the U.S. cultural media idiots were making movies about "Black Rain", now that reality is emerging the left ought to be pointing at the truth about the imperial fight going on between Japan, and the U.S. Euro banks. If Japan's culture gets uprooted then ours will too, I bet.
In an attempt to keep up with the academic types who write in here, I've thought why not just recruit some lower class buddies of mine to spout off in response to some thoughts put forward here. So I'm going to try writing some collaborations with folks I know who aren't academics, but are still thinking about what is going on (they don't have e-mail). Maybe this might inject some additional perspective into things. I see that is wit sharpening for us working class guys, and getting a little of my community a voice to play with here. regards, Doyle Saylor