iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Replies

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

This is Scott Atlas, the guy behind Trump's herd immunity covid approach, reflecting an ideology where public problems are best solved by doing nothing. "Give way to the market": The reality is that the market depends upon NIH-funded innovations. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...

Second, the private sector doesn’t have the incentive to invest in basic research. While companies invest heavily in R&D to get products to market, they can’t take the kinds of financial risks required when doing the core basic science that ultimately feeds to that end stage development. For example, NIH funding supports 99.4% of new drugs. It funds 45% of global investment in cancer research. Information technology has been heavily impacted by federally funded university research.

Colette Delawalla, PhD@cdelawalla.bsky.social

Right, so here is the Hoover Institute saying we should abolish the NIH: www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

washingtonpost.com

Opinion | Abolish the NIH

A $48 billion government monopoly should give way to the market.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Here is another thing "the market" won't pay for but benefit from: the costs of training PhD students. Of course, Atlas does not mention this. He would be happy if American higher education, a massive export industry that is the envy of the world, is gutted. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer...

Private organizations simply will not—and cannot— step into the breach to cover the costs of training. While the collective benefits of training a highly educated scientific workforce are great, it remains too costly for individual companies to take on. This training is the pipeline for scientific innovation. Shutting it down might save money today but with disastrous long-run effects.

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Actual American greatness came after World War II based on a partnership between universities and the federal government to make huge investments in science. It gave America an extraordinary edge over the rest of the world. But people like Atlas want to dismantle that partnership.

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