Overlooked Costs of War-Related Public Research A Comment on 'Early RAND as a Talent Incubator' by Nicholas Rescher

摘要

In "Early RAND as a Talent Incubator: An Extraordinary Experiment," Nicholas Rescher argues that the first decade of the RAND Corporation (1948-1958) was a unique and extremely successful experiment in talent cultivation. Rescher's article is focused largely on the distinct structure of RAND and how it created an environment where young, talented scholars were able to pursue their interests with few constraints. The main indicators of the success of this experiment, he argues, are the innovations made by some of those working at early RAND as well as the professional accolades they received for their contributions. Rescher's article offers not only the opportunity to consider the early days of the RAND Corporation from a purely historical perspective but also the chance to reconsider the common beliefs that war-related public science advances academic disciplines and that it advances the broader "public interest."