michael_nielsen

Yes, I think there are issues with funders/governments overly directing what research takes place.

To be clear: you're saying that grant agencies violate researchers' academic freedom because they evaluate what questions the researchers propose to work on?

No, I am saying that governments have been seeking too much control over the research process. It is a difficult path to tread and get the balance right. But the nightmare scenario is Lysenkoism. How much control do you want the Trump administration to have over science?

Your argument was that (a) academic freedom means freedom to choose where to publish; and (b) grant agencies are threatening that. I pointed out that (c) academic freedom certainly means freedom to choose what to work on, but that people commonly interpret that to mean...

... freedom in the context of their employment, not that grant agencies have a duty to fund them. And so too in the context of freedom of where to publish.

Not sure why non-standard interpretation of academic freedom. I was not saying grant agencies have duty to fund researchers. Researchers should be employed & paid by universities. Don't know about US, but in UK now researchers' job depends on getting government/industry grants.

Your argument: grant agencies are violating academic freedom for academics to publish where they choose. I'm pointing out that the exact same argument would show that grant agencies violate academic freedom to choose what they work on. Do you see this?

I see this. I think the issue in both cases is who gets to make the decision (whether a work is published in a particular outlet/to whom a grant is awarded): peers or government agencies? What control does the government have over such decisions?