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It’s very interesting comparing Biden’s questions to the ones FDR posed to V. Bush. nsf.gov/od/lpa/nsf50/v. FDR’s 2nd and Biden’s 1st are very similar. FDR’s 3rd and 4th strike me as richer framings of Biden’s 5th. Nice to see emphasis in B’s 2nd. What questions would you pose?

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Phil Larson

@philliplarson

· Jan 15, 2021

Letter from @PresElectBiden to @eric_lander — first Cabinet-level science advisor — great set of questions! buildbackbetter.gov/wp-content/upl

12:28 AM · Jan 16, 2021Twitter Web App

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I wonder how it must feel being given the personal mandate to write a successor to Science: the Endless Frontier. We can complain about some of its details, but still—what shoes to fill!

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Seems to me that Biden's fourth -by asking about ensuring fair distribution- adds an economic dimension that FDR's did not have, which could make it harder for Biden to implement received recommendations.

Matias Faure

@mati_faure

Jan 16, 2021

I also find interesting that Biden is not thinking of sharing benefits with countries other than US whereas FDR had a more globalist mindset.

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There is a remarkable difference in perspective. All of FDR's questions read like he's just discovered the government can supercharge science. Biden's feel more like a list of policy/research problems.

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and

"Since the Endless Frontier was written, where has government inadvertently impeded science and what could we do to amend that?" The new questions feel much more scoped - FDR didn't mention the Soviet Union or overpopulation which were parallels to China and climate today