Organized Science or Slaved Science?

Organized Science or Slaved Science?Alvin M. Weinberg director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1961 wrote an article: "Impact of Large-Scale Science on the United States" that touches several aspects of the impact of Organized Big Science on scientific research and scientists. Some quotes from this article: -"whenever science is fed too much money, it becomes fat and lazy". -"since Big Science needs great public support it thrives on publicity. The inevitable result is the injection of a journalistic flavor into Big Science which is fundamentally in conflict with the scientific method." -"the spectacular rather than the perceptive becomes the scientific standard." -"one sees evidence of scientists spending money instead of thought. This is one of the most insidious effects of large-scale support of science. In the past the two commodities, thought and money, have both been hard to come by. Now that money is relatively plentiful but thought is still scarce, there is a natural rush to spend dollars rather than thought." Many will feel in full synch with this quote: -"it is easier to tell other scientists how and what to do than to do it oneself. The big scientific community tends to acquire more and more bosses. The Indians with bellies to the bench are hard to discern for all the chiefs with bellies to the mahogany desks. Unfortunately, science dominated by administrators is science understood by administrators, and such science quickly becomes attenuated if not meaningless." But more than what is touched in this excellent article the fact that today's research topics are enabled or not by having access to funding options implies that this system of research may left whole topics untouched if not budget is assigned for its research or study. Scientific "independence" is really out of the picture. And again Official Science default for more than 70 years on the study of Plasmoid Anomalies is one clear example of Organized Big Science , (http://www.andreasaltelli.eu/file/repository/Weinberg_Big_Science.pdf)