They get very little advantage from doing long-range research. The same is true of universities, he said, which are facing cutbacks in funding for fundamental science. While it's true that certain areas are supported, particularly those that have immediate effect on health, there are other areas that are being cut back and cut back drastically. Seitz said scientific inquiry has historically been the venue of aristocrats.
Elitism is out.
So-called 'level playing field' is in. The Ivy League of universities in the United States, which once prided itself on fostering elitism, has a very different agenda these days. I can only hope that wisdom, balance and perspective will be restored long before they are forced on us again. Professor Bryan G. Norton extended the Olympiad's theme to the question of survival in the future. I think that is a morally dangerous idea.