I notice that you use the expression "the usual means" twice in this discussion.
Models of financing science change all the time. Most of the breakthroughs before 1950 were not funded by means that we currently consider usual and current models of financing science are, to a degree, holdover from the Cold War. But note that the same does not apply to applied technology: the VC model that runs Silicon Valley is very successful compared to the usual grant structures.
It is the Online Age now and crowdfunding is an alternative that wasn't available before. There will inevitably be a lot of misses and outright frauds, but I prefer a world with alternatives that do not depend on bureaucracy as much.
Notably, the longevity researchers spent a lot of energy to get aging classified as disease. This is finally bearing some fruit, but I can't help thinking that the same energy could have been spent better in their areas of expertise, not in lobbying.
On the other hand, a crowdfunding campaign can be managed by interns.
Sure, I’m not against crowdfunding research, as long as there is a clear reason for it. For example, too much budget directed to covid is hurting other perfectly valid areas? Fine. Or, someone has a perfectly good research plan, but failed to compete in the usual arena? Fine, too. But there is also a big potential for pseudo-science to be funded in this manner if it’s not 100% clear why. Especially if the reasons sound somewhat like conspiracy theories.
Models of financing science change all the time. Most of the breakthroughs before 1950 were not funded by means that we currently consider usual and current models of financing science are, to a degree, holdover from the Cold War. But note that the same does not apply to applied technology: the VC model that runs Silicon Valley is very successful compared to the usual grant structures.
It is the Online Age now and crowdfunding is an alternative that wasn't available before. There will inevitably be a lot of misses and outright frauds, but I prefer a world with alternatives that do not depend on bureaucracy as much.
Notably, the longevity researchers spent a lot of energy to get aging classified as disease. This is finally bearing some fruit, but I can't help thinking that the same energy could have been spent better in their areas of expertise, not in lobbying.
On the other hand, a crowdfunding campaign can be managed by interns.