Funding Opportunities - Department of Defense - Minerva Research Initiative (MRI): Chinese Military and Technology Research and Archive Programs (US Army Research Office)
This is generating some hubbub.
Like most things this is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, yeah - it sort of IS important to think about and try to understand things like how groups like Al Queada recruit or what the result will be of a burgeoning Chinese economy and technology. On the other - should the government be funding university research? Researchers in the private sector all know that the source of the money makes a big difference. If there is a vested interest in a particular outcome then researchers can get pushed around a bit by money-men. Do we really want the DoD to be looking over the shoulders of people studying such important things? However, who is better to fund such projects that the DoD? I mean the results will very clearly mean a lot to them - and they've got the money to share.
Since I don't believe in numbers and continue to claim that they are simply just another rhetorical construction we use to try and make sense of complicated situations I will never have to worry about this. Nobody cares what I am researching (yet) and nobody is going to be writing any big checks for me. Which is fine- I think I want to be more of a teacher anyway. But a lot of my friends do social sciencey stuff. And I'm wondering what they might think of it all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment