reverse Jython

[Andrew Dalke]

Alex Martelli:
> There remains in academia an unconfessed sympathy for the Greek
> position, exemplified by this anecdote, that real scholarship
> _shouldn't_ be "good for something" -- it should be far from the grubby
> preoccupation of everyday life, and in its own idealized spiritual
> sphere.  Nobody in academia will speak this out loud, but, it IS, to
> some extent, still in the background.

Some are in academia in part because it's easier to fail,
or at least fail in interesting ways.  I don't mean that
derisively.  Consider someone doing work in biochemistry
or genetic research where there are many fundamental
problems that need to be addressed and novel instruments
created before figuring out if a given approach is "good
for something."

It's harder for non-academics to justify this sort of
exploratory work.

BTW, I happen to believe too much basic research is shifted to
academic labs and I complain that as a consequence in the US
it means a single person, the president, can decide that
certain fields of research are prohibited.


					Andrew
					dalke at dalkescientific.com