Cost of Bank Bailouts >> Cost of Science

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

The UK has (allegedly) spent more on saving banks in a year than it has spent on science “since Jesus”.

— BBC News, spotted via boingboing’s One year of econopocalypse would pay for a civilization’s worth of science

So if we took the bailout money and gave it to scientists, I’d have my flying car?

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4 Responses to Cost of Bank Bailouts >> Cost of Science

  1. Earl Killian says:
    July 9, 2012 at 10:33 pm

    Nah, that’s engineering, not science. What you’d have is your invisibility cloak.

    • Michael Froomkin says:
      July 9, 2012 at 10:42 pm

      How many more bailouts until I would have had my warp drive?

      • Earl Killian says:
        July 11, 2012 at 12:44 pm

        Hmm, that’s a tough one. A while ago I would have said never, but the recent stuff coming from physicists has been so surprising, I might have to hedge on that. Of course, the most likely outcome is that our civilization collapses before too long (bank crises being only one of the contributing causes), leaving warp drive to the post dark ages rebuilders. Perhaps we need knowledge monasteries, as in Anathem? Just how does one preserve knowledge across a dark age?

  2. Richard A. Bartle says:
    July 10, 2012 at 3:18 am

    You’d have your flying car but the steering wheel would be on the right.

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