C1080 primary productivity (1/2)
Basic science is of great significance to human society, but it is also the most easily overlooked, because humans have a bad character and are short-sighted and short-sighted.
Basic scientific research does not take practical purposes into account. It produces general knowledge and an understanding of nature and its laws. This general knowledge provides a solution to a number of important practical questions, but it does not provide a fully specific answer to any of them. It is the duty of applied research to provide such successful answers.
Just like in ancient astrology, people used telescopes to observe the movement of celestial bodies and speculated that the earth was round, speculated about heliocentrism, and deduced calendars. These studies are one of the basic sciences, but they do not live to say that it is difficult to directly turn them into money.
Through the study of astrology, the basic science, the Chinese and the Arabian were the first to master the technology of Star Appraisal, allowing ships to traverse the ocean without relying on their vision to see the coastline. This applied technology can be turned into money.
A big part of the reason why Middle Age merchants were so rich was because they had mastered the Star Appraisal Spell at the earliest, which allowed them to trade effectively across the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean.
At that time, European navigational technology was still on the small, broken boats sailing along the coastline. If a sailor could not see the coastline of the mainland in three days, he would be scared half to death.
Was Newton's ”Law of Nature” important? Everyone knew that it was important, but it did not mean that money could be earned. Money was actually obtained from applied science research, but applied science research had to be built on the foundation of basic science research.
Is Einstein's Theory of Relativity important? But relativity also belongs to the basic scientific research, and atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb are derived from the relativistic matrix of applied science research.
This was just like a towering tree. People needed the fruits on it to feed their hunger, the branches of the tree to fuel their hunger, and the thick trunk to build the house to make furniture. However, there were only a few people who were willing to study the roots.
This is a bad root of mankind, fast, short-sighted, especially in a society that has oppressed craftsmen for thousands of years.
Xiao Letian was very clear that if the Basic Science Foundation were to use the state's budget, then the opposition he was facing would probably be even louder than the Patent Office.
Even Xiao Letian's Four Heavenly Kings and the other officials found it hard to understand this investment. In the eyes of the Chinese, direct investment in applied science was still acceptable. After all, success could see the actual benefits.
But this kind of illusory basic science research, especially mathematics, physics, logic... Wait a minute, people first felt that it was useless, that it was all a waste of money.
Faced with such a cultural background, Xiao Letian was already too lazy to explain. He could only start an independent foundation from his own pocket, since I have lost my own family business.
When the 5 million Dragon-striated Silver Coin was thrown in, Xiao Letian clearly heard a burst of a regretful sigh! But due to their reverence for Xiao Letian, no one dared to say anything.
However, the miracle created by the Shaw's's Foundation for Basic Science in the following ten years was unimaginable to everyone present today!