The NSF and other federal agencies that fund academic research are extensions of the political system. There’s no use complaining about it, that’s the way it is. If NSF’s overseers (i.e. Congress) decide to put science money into a program to investigate squishy, touchy-feely or intrinsically unscientific areas of investigation, that is their prerogative. Researchers should be happy that once a funding program has been established decisions on who gets funded are made by a peer-review system that, while not perfect, actually works reasonably well.
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