No kidding …

… Instapundit — I AGREE: Is there a creativity deficit in science? If so, the current funding system shares much of the blame.

This is true of all patronage, including patronage of the arts. Patronage is itself an art. Think Duncan Phillips of the Phillips Collection. Or Isabella Stewart Gardner. To say nothing of Lorenzo de Medici and Pope Julius II. Unusual individuals with impeccable taste and insight. Norbert Wiener spoke out against government funding of science and accepted none. The notion that a committee could make the kind of choices people of that caliber make is risible.