In the past, I have posted a “best of 2010 software” or some other retrospective. This time around, let’s look forward and I’ll make some useless predictions about what I think will be a few hot topics in 2011. Consider these things you might not have thought about, but should add to the “pay attention” list.
- The Large Hadron Collider
I am biased – sue me. I think that this year will truly be the year of the LHC. With the detectors being better characterized all the time, and more and more physicists on all experiments taking risks with the data, I think that this year will be the year when the LHC starts pummeling the journals with interesting physics searches. This should also be the year of experimental particle physics. Enough with all the speculating and wondering with math – let’s smash some particles and discover some shit. It’ll be cool. - Freedom of Information on the Internet
It goes by the vague name “net neutrality,” but really we’re talking about allowing for freedom of information (and thus innovation) on the internet. While this issue stewed in 2010, I think with the recent FCC ruling on the matter it will explode in 2011. Any attempt to turn the internet into a consumer-only world, creating new barriers to creators by promoting commercial traffic, should be met with civil resistance. We live in a delicate time for the internet – when content creators are also internet access providers, and thus have conflicts of interest regarding the free flow of information on the internet. - Science and Education Funding
The new Republican majorities in Congress will be looking for non-discretionary spending to cut. While the Democrat majorities were no boon to basic research funding, the concern now should be that we can’t even hold the line on education and science spending. The U.S. continues to cede leadership in nearly all major basic research frontiers. Innovation has continued to let the field survive, but innovation starved of basic investment cannot hold out for long. This will be a crucial year for the debate over how to spend the hard-earned dollars of the American people.
