After a group of 68 Nobel Prize winners issued a harsh document in which they stated that the Argentine scientific system "is approaching a precipice," the Government came out and maintained that
"science that does not provide benefits will not be financed." for society"
.
Presidential spokesperson
Manuel Adorni
said at a press conference this Thursday that "the national government is committed to science and technology, we will always do so. The president himself (Javier Milei) is an academic who has dozens of publications, six books written and hundreds of conferences".
In this context, he clarified that "the president understands the importance of science, values findings of concrete improvements in society and a Conicet is being built that puts its efforts into the development of the economy, or artificial intelligence applied to medicine, "not one that spends its time on investigations of dubious usefulness like the one that addressed Batman's sexual orientation."
Already responding directly to the researchers who signed the letter, the spokesperson said that he did not question their "intellectual honesty," but noted that "good analysis is one that analyzes in its context."
And he added: "Argentina today is an absolutely impoverished country and with half of its people living below the poverty line, science that does not provide benefit to society will not be financed."
The letter from the prestigious researchers, however, highlighted the important contributions that Argentine science made to the field of knowledge in different areas and pointed to
the current situation of lack of funding.
“We view with concern
the elimination of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the dismissal of administrative employees from Conicet
and other institutes throughout the country, and the early termination of many contracts next month.
We fear that Argentina is
abandoning its scientists, students and future leaders of science
,” they stated in the letter addressed to Javier Milei.
“We are concerned that the dramatic
devaluation of the budgets of Conicet and the National Universities
reflects not only a dramatic devaluation of Argentine science but also a devaluation of the Argentine people and the future of Argentina,” the text states.
“If it were not for science and Argentine scientists, the causes and treatment of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases would have remained a mystery for decades.
"If it were not for Argentine science and scientists, we would lack the knowledge and technology that allows a country to feed both its own people and much of the world and establish the basic knowledge necessary for effective nature conservation policies," added as part of an extensive list of Argentina's contributions to the field of global science.
D.D.