[9713] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Some Thoughts on The National Science Board
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Roger Bohn)
Mon Jan 17 16:31:28 1994
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 13:24:04 -0800
To: com-priv@psi.com
From: Rbohn@ucsd.edu (Roger Bohn)
At 1:32 PM 1/17/94 -0500, Peter Deutsch wrote:
> Despite the occasional air of hysteria that seems to
>surface on this list, I think the NSF has actually done a
>pretty fair job of allocating resources for networking
>research and development. In the process they've been a
>prime mover in the birth of the Internet and have helped
>create a whole new industry in the U.S. There are the
>occasional problems but from what I've seen those involved
>will be able to look back at the end of their careers with
>some pride in their achievements. Would that all of us
>could make that claim.
>
several paragraphs omitted
>
>Calls for major changes at the NSF are, I think,
>unwarranted at this point, given their success to date.
>Sure, identify the symptoms, but also take a look at the
>current state of your patient before prescribing your
>medicine...
Yes, the current discussion has uncomfortable echoes of Senator Proxmire's
anti-scientific witch hunts (a.k.a. Golden Fleece awards). In both cases
there is a tendency to emphasize procedure over outcome.
Of course this is part of a growing "American disease", correlated with
emphasis on credentials over ability ("Do you have an advanced degree?")
and legal process over substantive effects. (The amount of paperwork a
student group I advise was told to submit to qualify for a $500 payment
from the Small Business Administration was astounding. It emphasized
issues such as "Did at least six contacts take place? A contact is defined
as......" )
Yet I would certainly not say there is no reprehensible fraud or abuse
anywhere in payments made by the U.S. government. So oversight (by the
press as well as internally) has a necessary role. But on this particular
thread I have yet to hear much about any _substantive and significant_
problems arising from NSF contracting procedures. (And Monday morning
quarterbacking, IMHO, does not count for much.)
Roger Bohn
