That's where the money is. If you want people to do something, you need to pay for it. Want cures for various forms of cancer? Funding. A complete string theory? Funding. Improved transportation infrastructure, novel energy sources, dissemination of medical care to the impoverished, long-distance space travel, and sustainable food resources? Funding, funding, funding, funding and funding.
The ugly counterpart to this is that funding happens where desire is, and it doesn't need to be legislated if people really want something. If people really wanted cancer treatments / space travel / etc, they'd be paying for it, one way or another. Perhaps your complaint should be "consumers want to pay for their own entertainment, not the advancement of humanity". Don't shoot the highly talented messengers.
Incidentally, $activity for The Cure is such a joke. Have you ever seen anyone donate a substantial amount during such an activity? They throw in like ten dollars. Then they drop forty dollars on sushi to celebrate how fucking enlightened they are.
The ugly counterpart to this is that funding happens where desire is, and it doesn't need to be legislated if people really want something. If people really wanted cancer treatments / space travel / etc, they'd be paying for it, one way or another. Perhaps your complaint should be "consumers want to pay for their own entertainment, not the advancement of humanity". Don't shoot the highly talented messengers.
Incidentally, $activity for The Cure is such a joke. Have you ever seen anyone donate a substantial amount during such an activity? They throw in like ten dollars. Then they drop forty dollars on sushi to celebrate how fucking enlightened they are.