I&#x27;ve also wondered lately if we shouldn&#x27;t add some random element to the way we fund scientific research. Right now, as I understand it, researchers write grant proposals and funding institutions evaluate them and pick the best ones to fund.<p>Presumably then, the researchers who get the most funding would be the ones who are the best at writing grant proposals, and they may or may not be doing the best research or researching the most important things. In theory, there could be brilliant researchers working on important things who don&#x27;t get any money because they lack the ability to persuade people to give it to them.<p>One of my &quot;if I had a billion dollars&quot; dreams is to set up a foundation that would randomly award research grants to field of qualified applicants.<p>I think it&#x27;s the same problem with elections. Governing and campaigning are two different skills. Elections elect people who are good at campaigning, but may or may not be good at governing.