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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

FWIW, I don't think x-labs is to blame here bsky.app/profile/did:...

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I don't believe this is accurate. bsky.app/profile/cale...

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Funding non-profit startups has been a concept in development for many years. Philanthropy has already repeatedly prototyped versions of this with HHMI, Arc, Broad, Whitehead, and the Focused Research Organizations (FRO) model. Core science funding is important. And X-labs can be complimentary!

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Also, OTA has a legit role to play here! OTA is a central part of how you set milestones using gov contracting structures, which is a challenge for grant structures. OTA has many benefits. Some are outlined here: spectrum.ieee.org/nsf-x-labs

spectrum.ieee.org

Inside the New X Labs Funding Model for Quantum and Photonics

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s $1.5 billion X-Labs call for agile new entities to tackle pressing, narrow problems

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Programs are phased over multiple years; the $1B funding need in FY26 is practically improbable. This is especially true with milestone based programs like X-labs!

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Having spoken to program managers of multi-year large programs, the way agencies fund activities like this is not to fund the majority in the first year.

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

We've been checking with contacts inside the NSF and they are saying it is **not true** that X-labs is responsible for this. X-labs is not anywhere close to big enough to make up this hole. As far as I have heard, this program is coming out of TIP funding.

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Yeah I'm only conveying the X-labs side of this. Cuts to core science funding are bad, but I don't think the x-labs program is responsible. Ideally x-labs are complementary investments!

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

We've been checking with contacts inside the NSF and they are saying this is wildly inaccurate. X-labs is not anywhere close to big enough to make up this hole. As far as I have heard, this program is coming out of TIP specific funding

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I should also note our funding is much more traditional than you might imagine. Our science work, in particular, is primarily made up of very mainstream foundations like the Sloan Foundation and the Heising-Simons Foundation. I'm happy to chat more! Just send me a note caleb@ifp.org

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

But my primary focus has been on creating a diversified portfolio where science in lots of different forms gets the opportunity to thrive.

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I work on reforming science because I care so much about its long term political stability. I also really appreciate the contributions of traditional academia, and again, on net I'd like for it to get a lot more funding.

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

I'd gladly double (or triple) public funding of science, I have no desire to privatize it (I'm not even sure what that would mean). I think the NSF/NIH/DOE are essential institutions and arguably the most important public funding there is to protect.

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Hi Mark! I'm sure we'd find lots to disagree about, but I don't think this characterization of me, IFP, our funding sources, or our views on science are accurate.

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Reposted by Caleb Watney

Alec Stapp @alecstapp.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

🚨 We're hiring! Join @ifp.bsky.social’s metascience team to rethink how science gets funded and organized. Fellow & Senior Fellow roles open — $3K referral bonus if we hire your recommendation. Apply by May 11: ifp.org/come-work-wi...

ifp.org

Come Work with IFP | IFP

IFP is currently hiring — join the team!

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Reposted by Caleb Watney

David Wessel @davidmwessel.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

@calebwatney.bsky.social of Institute for Progress on much-needed reforms of US funding for investments in science that make a lot more sense than DOGE slash-and-burn. via @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/o...

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Frank S. David @franksdavid.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Smart piece on need for more risk-taking in US science www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/o... by @calebwatney.bsky.social of @ifp.bsky.social (Learn more abt IFP’s smart sci/med ideas — including some stuff by me & others on clinical trials — on their website.)

nytimes.com

Opinion | DOGE Needs a Different Playbook for Science

We need less administrative bloat in science.

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

🎯🎯🎯 marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

A very interesting argument from @mtabarrok.bsky.social that credential inflation in education (without corresponding real gains in human capital) has made the Great Stagnation look a bit worse than it actually is. www.maximum-progress.com/p/is-the-gre...

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Tim Hwang @timhwang.bsky.social · 09/11/2023

macroscience is back today with @calebwatney.bsky.social thinking about how data limits the promise of metascience, and arguing for the need for a census-style effort in the space www.macroscience.org/p/a-census-f...

macroscience.org

A Census for Science

The potential of metascience rests on its promise to offer an unparalleled account of the determinants of scientific and technological progress. Whereas earlier efforts to understand progress have rel...

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 20/10/2023

I enjoyed having the opportunity to testify a few days ago before the House Science Committee on the areas where federal AI R&D funding can go the furthest: progress.institute/where-can-fe...

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Caleb Watney @calebwatney.bsky.social · 04/07/2023

My mom is reading Dune because she wants to connect with me and have me explain the plot 😭

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Heidi L. Williams @heidiwilliams.bsky.social · 05/05/2023

New spring 2023 Journal of Economic Perspectives issue: housing/urban economics, universal health insurance, mental health, + a bonus teaching-oriented piece on event study models from Doug Miller: aeaweb.org/issues/721

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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 01/05/2023

Montana is on track to adopt perhaps the most ambitious state-level YIMBY reform package yet: legalizing duplexes, establishing as-of-right permitting, and requiring that zoning be informed by realistic assessments of housing need, among many reforms.