Smart Americans are running from the US anyway. A lot will end up in Europe no matter what we do. Question is if it is a good idea to prioritize using these people to our own. It’s not like Europe is lacking in well educated smart people.
Many European countries (especially those with right wing governments) are getting rid of scientific funding, often illegally. I know many researchers who are on the brink of losing their jobs because their promised public funding has vanished. How are US scientists going to find jobs and projects?
“We should use our own” is bullshit, though. Even China can’t manage that, despite literally forcing people to study the subjects they need.
Well yes, I agree. My worry is indeed that funding for research is limited and our own scientists have trouble getting their work funded. It’s somewhat unfair to them bringing in the US ones and showering them in cash just to collect them. They’re not Pokémon. I’m all for more spending on research in general, it’s needed and does pay itself in the long run.
I don’t think that’s how science works. Every scientist and educated person doing meaningful work has a huge payoff. For pretty much anything. They deliver goods, contribute to the economy, advance us further, have a positive effect on society. And it’s not like science has researched 99% already and there is a finite amount left… We’re just at the beginning and there is a lot to do. So don’t cut down on science, but let people collaborate and advocate for more science. Not less, or a fixed amount. That’s just stagnation and wasting opportinities. Every bright scientist needs to be enabled to contribute. And science is very international due to it’s nature.
I do agree, but with the scientists you also need opportunities to employ them, do meaningful research, have funding for that research etc.
There certainly are needs, for example the Trump regime cancelled bird flu vaccine research and it is needed. It would be nice to add the people and what they’ve accomolished so far to our own research. But it’s not like we’ve got nothing.
Sure. But I think that mainly means we should create more opportunities. I mean if you hire the brightest minds to tackle the bird flu, that means it gets better results and solved more quickly. If you put restricrions in place, it’ll likely have the opposite effect. And this is really pronounced in science. As a highly specialized expert, you’ll have like 1 to 3 places in the entire world to do your work. If we say scientists can only work where they belong, we take those away. And that also means doing away with those really complicated studies, the top-notch research and achievements.
(And I think science is better suited to assign who does what, and what they’ll focus on next or if there is some competition going on… My personal belief is that science has better means to make these decisions than politics. At least if we want to maximise for output and delivered goods… And if we want to do really complex research at all. At least to some degree, it’s not 100% like that, either.)
Oh yes, I agree.
100% this.
Narrator voice: “They didn’t”
France and Spain at least have got some programs going. How effective they’ll be, time will tell. Regardless, I think Europe is going to receive a lot of young researchers from third countries that were planning on a PhD or postdoc in the us before this administration.
