The simple truth is that science is a branch of entertainment industry. It’s part of the bread-and-circuses program funded by the US government. That’s all there is to it.<p>If science were solely funded by private entities, the situation would be different. (And that includes private grants, whose sole purposes is not to make profit, but to fund fundamental science. Still, they should be private. There should be many of them. And they should compete for private donations of their sponsors by demonstrating regular quality control. When you have a monopoly, the product always sucks, compared to a non-monopoly alternative. Basic economics.)