On 5/19/16, Bob Wilson <rwilson@wisc.edu> wrote:

(2) "Math occurs randomly": Maybe to some extent, but highly correlated with other things. E.g., the effect of Sputnik on research funding...

Research funding is usually highly directed. To say "here's a house, car, living expenses... get back to us in a decade with something at least relavent" is different. Even if all it does is secure brain cells away from the competition that's a decent side win, and relatively low cost.