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Far, far less, I'm afraid to say. There are some exceptions of course.
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I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891 -
OTOH, if the LHC didn't exist most of them might set themselves to some other relatively useless task for the same reason.Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I think that the opportunity cost involved in keeping a large fraction of the world's smartest people on a project which is of no use to anybody except themselves dwarfs the 8 or 10 billion dollar price tag of the machine and salaries. Note that most of these brains aren't directly employed by the project, but would be forced to do something else if there was not expectation of new data in the near future. The important factor here is that most of these people are driven by non-pecuniary motives in choosing their line of work, so their labour is worth far more than their salary would indicate.Comment
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Like become hedge fund number crunchers... As just one fer'instance.I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891Comment
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It's possible, but would be much less likely.
Physics departments would not be keeping the number of HE theorists on hand which they do if there wasn't the expectation that they might be needed in the very near future.
Some of them would move to other branches of theoretical physics or mathematics, though in all likelihood the net movement out of academics would be a large fraction of the total number.
Say 2-3k movement out by individuals with extremely strong math skills and an average IQ somewhere north of 155.12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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Who am I to say what's socially valuable and what's not?Originally posted by DanS
Like become hedge fund number crunchers... As just one fer'instance.
I don't know enough to decide. That's why we have prices...12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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they should give more money to condensed matter physics and solid stae chemistry. And have sojme prizes ans such. Get smart people like /kitty in tyhere. Lots of hard problems with a fundamental nature but eventual applied significance. follow the electron, not the quark.Comment
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a) Boring
b) If that was so valuable they'd be paying CM people in industry more than they do...12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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I'm pretty sure Intel can take care of that all on its own.Comment
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That is an excellent point KH, great minds seeded into the rest of our economy would likely create many small advancements 'ware the rubber meets the road' which increase efficiency and earn a lot of money that can then be taxed.
On a related note I found some interesting information on an alternative to the Constellation plan. As I said earlier KISS is the best principle and this plan seems superior on that ground, its called Jupiter or DIRECT and is a single rocket design which uses more Shuttle parts and systems with less modification allowing cheaper and faster development. Apparently Constellation is suffering massive delays and won't be ready for years. I'm no fan of manned space flight but if its politically necessary this seems the better means of doing it. The current NASA director has apparently dug in his heels and I hope sacking him will bring about a re-evaluation.
Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and believers. Fellow creators, the creator seeks - those who write new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest. - Thus spoke Zarathustra, Fredrick NietzscheComment
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Ah, that's exactly what I was trying to get at with the reference to Superstring theory!Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I think that the opportunity cost involved in keeping a large fraction of the world's smartest people on a project which is of no use to anybody except themselves dwarfs the 8 or 10 billion dollar price tag of the machine and salaries. Note that most of these brains aren't directly employed by the project, but would be forced to do something else if there was not expectation of new data in the near future. The important factor here is that most of these people are driven by non-pecuniary motives in choosing their line of work, so their labour is worth far more than their salary would indicate.
A similar statement may be true of NASA, though with far less brainpower being wasted.
Incremental advances pay off more than blindly shooting in the dark and hoping for a light-years advance.
We had the Internet in the 1970s... it took 30 years for it to be adapted properly, as incremental advances made it useful. Same with computers... Except use 1950/1980 as the guide.-->Visit CGN!
-->"Production! More Production! Production creates Wealth! Production creates more Jobs!"-Wendell Willkie -1944Comment
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Subsidize it. Have NSF spend the money. Lot of basic foundational stuff that can help imndustries over all. If you are going to have any public science, this makes more sense than most.Originally posted by KrazyHorse
a) Boring
b) If that was so valuable they'd be paying CM people in industry more than they do...
Oh...and no it;s not. It's got lots of applications. has strtucuture to property. And it's he man inorganic. not wuissy bio.Comment
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If those numbers are right, you're saying 5-10% of people in that IQ range work in HE physics. Interesting...Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Say 2-3k movement out by individuals with extremely strong math skills and an average IQ somewhere north of 155.Comment
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you keep saying that and then dont write anything!Originally posted by TCO
Wassup Markie? Let me know if you need any columns written.
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giannopoulos.info: my non-mobile non-photo news & articles blogComment
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Yes. I've stated that before.Originally posted by Kuciwalker
If those numbers are right, you're saying 5-10% of people in that IQ range work in HE physics. Interesting...12-17-10 Mohamed Bouazizi NEVER FORGET
Stadtluft Macht Frei
Killing it is the new killing it
Ultima Ratio RegumComment
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Originally posted by MarkG
you keep saying that and then dont write anything!
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