But fraud is a moral outrage, perhaps another symptom of a system that has grown materialistic and unimaginably vicious. In the face of these problems, not to mention financial pressures, it is unsurprising that some have called for drastic, damaging cuts. But it makes little sense to reduce the scope of our science and technology when we have not exhausted the possibilities of constructive reform in the federal-university relationship. Ad hoc demands by distant agencies that will not share responsibility hardly constitute sound management. Neither does enmeshing faculty in administrivia, which they rarely understand in detail.
Research is by definition a plunge into the unknown, requiring talents for improvisation.
Innovative minds should not have to bootleg their best ideas under the cover of sure-thing applications. The implication that an investigator should demonstrate a specific, achievable goal beforehand flies in the face of the history of scientific progress. About the most important discoveries, we are always too ignorant to make predictions. Short-term awards conduce to micromanagement of others' work, misunderstanding between applicants and reviewers, and destructive career cycles in which encouragement alternates with distress. The grant system should attune itself to the rhythms of a scientific life, not vice versa.