The benefits of scientific research, in some ways, shape the future of a nation.
Thus, supporting scientific research naturally becomes one of the highest priorities of
every government.
However, it seems that not every research is worth supporting, for some do not have practical use.
Some people believe that there is no need for the government to fund these useless researches,
but I think this is a misunderstanding.
Researches which seem to have no practical use today may become meaningful,
or even revolutionary as time goes by.
Governments focusing on programs which provide immediate benefits only are short-sighted,
because many so called unpractical researches actually have huge potentials.
The research on nuclear materials seemed to be useless and even dangerous in the past,
but today they turn out to benefit us in many respects: nuclear power stations can satisfy
the increasing need for electricity;
radiation can be used to reveal the internal structures of human body and steel.
If governments refuse to encourage and fund these advanced researches,
we may have no revolutionary progress at all.
Since some advanced scientific research cannot produce immediate benefits,
individuals or companies are unlikely to be interested,
and governments’ supports may be the only chance for this kind of researches.
Many countries pay close attention to space exploration,
and probes are sent into the space by rockets constantly.
Building such facilities and hiring engineers and technicians concerned
require an incredibly large fund and various resources,
and no organization but governments can afford to do that.
Without necessary equipment and facilities provided by governments,
these researches with huge potentials cannot be conducted.
Besides requiring money and resources,
advanced researches also involve a great number of specialists and experts,
and only governments have the power to gather so many talents.
We humans have already established a gene mapping database
by carrying out an international program which involves six big powers in the world.
Such a program cannot be completed by any individual or organization without governments’ backup,
because few people are really interested in it due to its lack of immediate benefits,
and if governments did not realize its importance,
there would be no enough human resource to finish all the tests,
calculations and analyses.
Governments should support scientific researches which have no practical use by providing
assets as well as human resource, because all the researches
will finally benefit us in some way someday. (Written by Zirui Wang)