The alien hypothesis?

[Richard Fiero]

At 01:57 AM 10/17/2005, Blake Stacey wrote:
>Quoting John Doe <tristero69 at yahoo.com>:
>>My point about funding , I believe, stressed the same
>>point you just reiterated - the majority is done under
>>institutional auspices...
  . . .
>Don't forget the effect of "institutionalization".
. . .
>To take a more specific example, I did my thesis with lab equipment and 
>computer time paid for by the Department of Energy and the Department of 
>Defense, even though my thesis covered the entropy of electron-swarm 
>motion in weakly ionized gases and the use of genetic algorithms to 
>extract scattering cross sections -- a subject, I assure you, of 
>negligible military or anti-terrorist potential.

Supposing "institutional" stands for institutional-evolutionary economics 
the  engine for progress in the sciences as mentioned above is national 
desire to increase success in war-making which indeed may be a 
cultural-national imperative.  Poklerisms abound.