"Leverage is not a solution for scientific progress."

But neither is PayPal an example of scientific progress.

It's squarely in the same category as credit. A way of separating people from their money.

Science is about learning and, hopefully, improving life through that which you find. Of course if you are involved with science for the sheer joy of discovery, improvement of life, yours, is virtually guaranteed.

Theil needs to live life as a postdoc in a hard science before he can start invoking science as a call to action to get people to support his investments.

National Review is not what it used to be. What would William F. Buckely Jr. say about posers like Theil? I'm pretty sure I know and it wouldn't be very flattering.