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It’s still surprising to me that not one decabillionaire has funded a good basic sciences institute. With a few hundred million dollars (paid primarily to salaries) and an extremely rigorous selection process, one could establish a highly prestigious research university and bring the brightest minds together in one place. Just go from there!

If Leland Stanford could do it…

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https://arcinstitute.org/

Arc is a cool concept, but these initiatives are ultimately handicapped by their reliance on the infrastructure of "grants".

Grants suck. What matters is having smart people together in one place.

If you pay smart people enough money, and offer them enough insulation and protection from academic politics, they will come to your institute. Grant-making to people at institutions which are already politically and socially captured does not fix the root issue.

Not sure if relevant as it is not just one institute but the Simons Foundation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simons_Foundation) seems along this line.

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