(12-16-2017, 03:14 PM)robkelk Wrote: What do you mean, "if" and "going to be"?
Associated Press, December 11, 2017: Macron awards US scientists grants to move to France in defiance of Trump
I mean that, right now, many academics are thinking 'we can last four years if we have to, and we live here because we decided to live here.' They're not going to give up on America that easily, that soon, although it's certainly tempting.
I mean that the vast majority of the scientists aren't going to leave just because this one president and his administration are a bunch of anti knowledge dicks. Because generally speaking the US has been very good to its scientists, and they're banking on that history.
There are going to be some leaving, sure, but most of them are going to stay because right where they are they've got plenty of facilities, money and connections to continue their research, and moving somewhere else means expending effort in rebuilding all of that. Effort they do not necessarily have to expend if they stay in the US and start economizing on their research, tighten the belt while the lean years pass.
Should the next presidential election not get them the expected rebound and reinvestment in science they're going to pack their bags and leave, because they are no longer as welcome as they are pretty much anywhere else. And America will have squandered its R&D sector.