Science.

 The news about the vaccine, how it came about and how good it is, is definitely a testament to science. The story behind it (I've heard a couple, so we still need a full breakdown of how it happened) points to some weaknesses to the academic system (the scientist pursuing the method was doing the long hard work necessary for her field but her Uni didn't see published papers and wanted her gone/to try something else). Well, it's great that she didn't, right? And, in fact, private (was it all private $? I would like to know) $ and organizations are what helped this vaccine come into being and quite possibly, academia fucked up. Indeed academia does have adverse incentives (nice comic on that here) but given at least one piece of the vaccine story and how that has saved so many lives, one has to think that this part of our R&D system is working pretty well. Thoughts?

 

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