{"id":5903,"date":"2013-11-11T18:47:31","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T02:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/?p=5903"},"modified":"2013-11-11T18:47:31","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T02:47:31","slug":"australia-needs-fundamental-research-to-build-a-great-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/2013\/11\/australia-needs-fundamental-research-to-build-a-great-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia needs fundamental research to build a great country"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<header>\n<h1 itemprop=\"name\"><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n<div><\/div>\n<aside id=\"meta\">\n<section id=\"partners\">\u00a0<\/section>\n<\/aside>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure id=\"slot1\"><img decoding=\"async\" itemprop=\"image\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c479107.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/files\/34849\/width668\/vjqw5rpw-1384129540.jpg\" data-id=\"34849\" \/><figcaption>Fundamental, wide-ranging and curious research is the basis of a country\u2019s development. Cuts to CSIRO won\u2019t help.\u00a0CarbonNYC\/Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>Like many scientists, I was apprehensive in advance about the Abbott government\u2019s approach to science policy. Would it be pragmatic but fact-based or would it be ideological and politically driven?<\/p>\n<p>Sadly it has only taken two months to discover that it is the latter.<\/p>\n<p>As a relatively recent immigrant (2008), who has chaired the precursor to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/computecanada.ca\/index.php\/en\/\">Compute Canada<\/a>\u00a0(the national high performance computing organisation),\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/NATO_Research_and_Technology_Organisation\">NATO<\/a>\u2019s Physical Sciences and Engineering Technology Panel, and the National Research Council of Canada information institute (<a href=\"http:\/\/cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca\/eng\/ibp\/cisti\/index.html\">CISTI<\/a>) I am fairly well placed to make an assessment.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Barbara_W._Tuchman\">Barbara Tuchman<\/a>, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian, folly is error<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>perceived as counter-productive in its own time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here are four striking examples of the current government\u2019s folly. All of them have sorry international precedents and parallels. I do not count the intended repeal of the carbon and the mining taxes, since these were \u201cknown knowns.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Who needs a science minister?<\/h2>\n<p>In his address at the Prime Minister\u2019s Prizes for Science earlier this month, Tony Abbott\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pm.gov.au\/media\/2013-10-31\/address-prime-ministers-prizes-science-dinner-parliament-house\">defended his decision<\/a>\u00a0not to have a science minister by saying:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But let me tell you that the United States does not have a secretary for science and no nation on Earth has been as successful and innovative as the United States. I\u2019d say to all of you please, judge us by our performance, not by our titles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is quite disingenuous. The US President\u2019s Science adviser sits in the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Executive_Office_of_the_President_of_the_United_States\">Executive Office of the President<\/a>\u00a0with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Office_of_Science_and_Technology_Policy\">legislated status<\/a>\u00a0and the US National Research Council has a statutory obligation to provide scientific advice on a host of matters. Taking Mr Abbott at his word his performance offers no relief.<\/p>\n<p>I should note that as a Canadian I was impressed by Australia\u2019s seeming progressiveness. Canada got its first and much needed government science adviser only during the previous Liberal administration. The present Harper government immediately down graded the office.<\/p>\n<h2>Controlling grants<\/h2>\n<p>The suggested\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/worldtoday\/content\/2013\/s3841797.htm\">intrusion<\/a>\u00a0into ARC grant assessment, especially on hot button social issues or airy-fairy artsy-fartsy topics, is depressing for all the obvious reasons.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c479107.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/files\/34850\/width237\/gf9xwbdx-1384129855.jpg\" \/><figcaption>Meddling in research funding stops discoveries happening.\u00a0EMSL\/Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>US Republicans&#8217; current<a href=\"http:\/\/news.sciencemag.org\/education\/2013\/11\/republican-plan-guide-nsf-programs-draws-darts-and-befuddlement-research-advocates\">meddling<\/a>\u00a0with research funding in the United States shows the same troubling desire to steer and control the research and development process.<\/p>\n<p>How long before our university and government scientists have to run their commentary past the government before speaking to the public or even publishing research? This has already happened at NASA and at Canada\u2019s Department of Fisheries and Oceans.<\/p>\n<h2>A worrying trend towards denial<\/h2>\n<p>Prime Minister Abbott and Environment Minister Hunt\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/david-h-bailey\/when-skepticism-becomes-d_b_4215286.html\">climate denialist<\/a>\u00a0comments on the recent NSW bush fires are concerning.<\/p>\n<p>These have a sad\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/read.thestar.com\/?origref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2F?origref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.au%2F#!\/article\/527d5ac6ec0691652047cdc2-climate-change-vs-rob-ford-and-stephen-harper-hume\">Canadian counterpart<\/a>. Now former Prime Minister Howard has chosen to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/federal-politics\/political-news\/the-claims-are-exaggerated-john-howard-rejects-predictions-of-global-warming-catastrophe-20131106-2wzza.html\">reinject<\/a>\u00a0himself in the same vein. With the decision to snub the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/abbotts-climate-diplomacy-sends-the-wrong-message-19979\">current Warsaw climate talks<\/a>, there is no denying the denial.<\/p>\n<p>On the environment, no other advanced democracy is behaving in nearly such a retrograde manner &#8211; though Canada comes close with Harper\u2019s retroactive withdrawal from Kyoto. By contrast, 25 years ago, the then Tory Canadian Prime Minister Mulroney made an environmental\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/canada.lilithezine.com\/Mulroney-Vs-Harper.html\">green plan<\/a>\u00a0central to his vision.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Australia, and despite the current obstructionist Republican Congress, the US will meet Kyoto targets.<\/p>\n<h2>Sacking the scientists<\/h2>\n<p>Finally, there are the proposed 1,400\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2013\/nov\/08\/csiro-may-lose-1400-jobs-in-freeze-says-staff-association\">job cuts at CSIRO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For Canada and Australia, university research and government laboratories are even more important than in the US or the EU. This is because so little significant research goes on in our<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Branch_plant_economy\">branch-plant economies<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 comprised (outside the resource sector) of companies whose role is often little more than sales and production for foreign owners who do their R&amp;D at home.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to its statutory roles, CSIRO has played a leading role in development of Wi-Fi protocols and much else. Less well-known is that it has great depth in many basic research areas. This includes roughly 200 mathematical scientists who play a vital role in the mathematical research community of Australia. I do not know of a comparable group in any other country.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c479107.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com\/files\/34848\/width668\/vg6gmgd3-1384129508.jpg\" \/><figcaption>Simon Yeo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Destruction is easy, building is hard<\/h2>\n<p>Stephen J. Gould writing after 9\/11 in the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2001\/09\/26\/opinion\/a-time-of-gifts.html\">New York Times<\/a>, but informed by a lifetime of studying evolution, observed that:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Complex systems can only be built step by step, whereas destruction requires but an instant.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is as true of the scientific venture as it is of the Great Barrier Reef. It is striking that NASA has been recalling retired Apollo engineers to come and talk to the current generation as virtually all \u201cinstitutional knowledge\u201d of the space age has been lost within the agency. Do we want that same kind of loss here?<\/p>\n<h2>Targeted v fundamental research<\/h2>\n<p>Removing funding for general research and putting it into specific, targeted areas has a dismal track record. The \u201cwar on cancer\u201d, \u201cUS energy independence\u201d? Even the development of successful AIDS treatments or the emerging biotech industry owes more of its success to basic research and curious fundamental scientists than to government proclamation.<\/p>\n<p>The death of the great industrial research laboratories (and Nobel producers such as Bell, Westinghouse, and Xerox Park) has only in part been replaced by research at places like Google.<\/p>\n<p>The great government labs (such as Lawrence Berkeley and Sandia) in the United States are no longer pleasant places to be a researcher. Even world-class researchers in both are subject to quarterly-account analysis and are frequently one contract away from unemployment.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/computecanada.ca\/cc_files\/publications\/lrp\/LRP.pdf\">Engines of Discovery<\/a>, the 2005 long range plan (LRP) for Canadian advanced computing which I coauthored, we successfully argued for long-term\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/stupid-science-funding-decisions-australias-not-the-only-dunce-14087\">predictable funding<\/a>. Examples from aerospace, brain science and elsewhere were central to our success in freeing up hundreds of millions for Canadian High Performance Computing.<\/p>\n<p>In Australia, hard future needs are being sacrificed to make easy current savings. But it is not too late for Mr Abbott to reconsider his obligations as steward of a great country.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This blog also appeared on<a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/australia-needs-fundamental-research-to-build-a-great-country-20031\"> the Conversation<\/a> (Nov 11 2013)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p> Fundamental, wide-ranging and curious research is the basis of a country\u2019s development. Cuts to CSIRO won\u2019t help. CarbonNYC\/Flickr <\/p>\n<p>Like many scientists, I was apprehensive in advance about the Abbott government\u2019s approach to science policy. Would it be pragmatic but fact-based or would it be ideological and politically driven?<\/p>\n<p>Sadly it has only taken two months to discover that it is the latter.<\/p>\n<p>As a relatively recent immigrant (2008), who has chaired the precursor to Compute Canada (the national high performance computing organisation), NATO\u2019s Physical Sciences and Engineering Technology Panel, and the National Research Council of Canada information institute (CISTI) <\/p>\n<p>Continue reading <a href=\"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/2013\/11\/australia-needs-fundamental-research-to-build-a-great-country\/\">Australia needs fundamental research to build a great country<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays","odd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5903"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5907,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5903\/revisions\/5907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experimentalmath.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}