loading . . . Eating One’s Seed Corn <p>I was going to start a longer blog post, which I hope to finalize in the next day or so. But current times (as I write this, it is immediately after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of personnel in the Federal Government) really drive me to put something out more quickly.</p>
<p>There is an apt phrase, with which I titled this piece, of consuming harvest that should have been left for subsequent crops, thereby forestalling the opportunity for the next harvest.</p>
<p>There ought to be no doubt that a continued stream of commercial innovation and economic progress requires a continued stream of a pipeline of research from fundamental to applied to translational. If the initial flows of fundamental and applied research are cut off, there will inevitably be a future forestalling of commercial innovation.</p>
<p>If we think of innovations in all sectors, such as the polymerase chain reaction, transistors and integrated circuits, the internet, gene therapy, battery technology for electric vehicles, etc., few if any of them could have occured without contributions from fundamental and applied research.</p>
<p>If one wanted to slow the pace of future innovation, one would stanch research at universities and research institutions and restrict and wither agencies, such as NSF, NIH, DOD and DOE that support such research. Unfortunately this seems to be occurring in real time.</p>
<p>Without this pipeline, responding to challenges such as population growth and migration, climate change, loss of biodiversity, aging demographics, and emergence of pandemic potential diseases will become increasingly difficult.</p>
<p>It is worrisome. As a senior academic, I will do my best to support my junior colleagues.</p>
<p>As is frequently the case, Benjamin Franklin said it aptly:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My thoughts and wishes are with all who have been or will be harmed by actions that occurred and will be occurring, including EPA, NSF, NIH, FDA, USDA, NASA, NOAA …, and to those researchers who have benefited from these dedicated government servants.</p>
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