How do you sell having lost $50M on research which ultimately went nowhere?
If you can't, then how do you guarantee that your research will always bear fruit?
The bottom line is: You have to be willing to fund MASSIVELY-expensive losses in addition to wins in order to make real progress. Scientists aren't magicians.
For every success there are countless failures which you don't hear about.
How do you sell having lost $50M on research which ultimately went nowhere?
If you can't, then how do you guarantee that your research will always bear fruit?
The bottom line is: You have to be willing to fund MASSIVELY-expensive losses in addition to wins in order to make real progress. Scientists aren't magicians.
For every success there are countless failures which you don't hear about.