Let me use the analogy of a three-lane highway to explain the significance of this distinction. The left, fast lane, belongs to law and policy. It is a fast lane – however much we complain that “the wheels of justice turn slowly” – because law and policy need to arrive at a decision about how to act. The right, slow lane, belongs to pure scientific research (of various kinds). It is slow not simply because it takes the long view, but fundamentally because it does not need to make a decision about how to act.
