Scientific American has an interesting side-by-side comparison of the responses of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to fourteen questions on “some of the biggest scientific and technological challenges facing the nation”. Issues raised in the questions include education, R&D, energy, and global warming, just to name a few.
As you might suspect I have points of serious disagreement with both candidates. For one thing what good is producing or importing more science and technology grads if there are no jobs in science or technology for them to fill?
If we completely stopped importing and educating science and tech today, would there be more or less science and tech jobs at the same point in the future if we did not stop? My first job was at a company started by a pair of immigrant engineering professors …