Erdos Had The Number First

So, people know about the “Tragedy of the commons”, where farmers graze out
common land because it’s, you know, common and it’s not _their_ land.

Research and Tech companies are doing the same thing. Basic research benefits industries and people, not companies. So why fund it? Sure, if you’ve got momey to burn you might allocate 10% of your staff’s time, but you know as well as I do that your staff is going to dedicate that 10% of their time to their own projects anyway. By giving it official aproval, you just aproving of what is already happening (see Dave Barry’s comments about the National Pretend Speed Limit).
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