Ulrike Hahn on Nostr: that was exactly my response - everything we know about “impact” and the relative ...

that was exactly my response - everything we know about “impact” and the relative merits of funding foundational vs. applied research suggests to me that it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible to foresee how “useful” a piece of research will turn out to be….

(my favourite example is Boolean algebra, imagining Boole’s head of department and impact officers asking in 1847 “so what have you been working on, George? How exactly does that benefit society?”)