All.. lemme know of your comments on this...

I think the statement is too generalized because social problems encompass a wide range of things; at one extreme they can include trifle things like smoking in public and at the other extreme they may involve extreme things like racial discriminations which can lead to genocides. Some of the social issues become non-issues when their ill effects are compared to the benefits given by research while the benefits given by research will look like an unnecessary overhead in face of the consequences of another social problem. I would say that the action to be taken depends on the seriousness of the social problem and the amount of resources available at that time.

There is no need to emphasize the importance of research. Lets consider the situation in which our predecessors had not invested any resources in long-term research; would we have had stepped on the moon? Would we have had medicine for fatal diseases like tuberculosis? Would flying in air be a reality? Would we able to travel over continents within a day? Would we be able to talk to near and dear people within seconds (which we now take it granted due to existence of internet)? All these and many of non-accidental revolutions were ushered in by long-term research. This research has continued despite many social problems like world wars, genocides, etc, which have plagued the society time to time and we are enjoying the results.

From another standpoint we can consider the long-term research is our obligation to future society. We are currently depleting some of the natural resources like coal, oil etc and we have to research for other alternatives, keeping into consideration that at some point of time in future these resources may be completely exhausted but still the human kind should not go back to the dark ages.

It is also equally evident that there is no future without present. If the people all over are dying due to lack of medicine for an epidemic what use is the research to find material that can withstand the heat of the sun’s core? If AIDS is spreading rampantly in the society taking lives of hundreds a day or if waging wars are exterminating millions there is no point in ignoring these issues for long-term research. It would be wise to invest whatever is required for finding a medicine or for preventing the epidemic and then the remaining can be allocated to the research. The present society should be healthy to produce a future society that can enjoy the fruits of the work done by current society. This means that any social problems that can cause peril to the society should be allocated resources immediately, if need be, at the sake of long-term research especially. If lacking sufficient funds the first priority should definitely be to solve the social problems that can put the society in peril, and put the long-term research on the back burner.

A balanced approach will help us keep the present secure and also work towards a great future. This may sometimes involve allocating money to high-impact social problems at the expense of the long-term research and at other times involve allocating more budgets to the research work that may help prevent future social problems.

-rm.