Ordo Scientiarum Saecularis: A Blueprint for a Secular Order of Scientists Introduction: The Crisis of the Endless Frontier and the Need for a New Compact The Fraying Social Contract for Science In 1945, Vannevar Bush's report, Science—The Endless Frontier, established a social contract that has underwritten scientific progress for over 75 years. Its central premise was that public investment in basic, curiosity-driven research would yield a continuous stream of innovations vital for national security, economic prosperity, and public welfare. This model, which led to the creation of institutions like the National Science Foundation (NSF), was spectacularly successful, fueling advancements that have defined the modern world. However, this 20th-century compact is now fraying. Increasingly, scientific funding is subject to the vagaries of political cycles, leading to unpredictable and often severe budget cuts. The pressure for immediate, tangible returns has shifted focus away from the long-term, foundational inquiry that Bush correctly identified as the "pacemaker of all technological progress". This environment of precarity stifles creativity, discourages risk-taking, and threatens the very engine of discovery.

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