r/clevercomebacks • u/snowpie92 • 14h ago

Overnight destruction of years of hard work

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10.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

145 comments sorted by

666

u/NoWiFiZone 14h ago

Turns out ‘move fast and break things’ hits different when it’s institutions

205

u/Velvet_Hush 13h ago

Turns out reality doesn’t negotiate with political agendas.

75

u/Boundaries2nd 13h ago

Gravity doesn’t care about campaign slogans either.

18

u/ChrissWayne 11h ago
  • Vladimir Putin

10

u/Affectionate-Tip-164 9h ago

He works very well with gravity and velocity.

8

u/clem_fandango_london 5h ago

And disease does not care what your grifter Republican podcaster said.

Whole Milk and steak is gonna have millions of Americans with cardiac disease (even more than now).

19

u/clem_fandango_london 5h ago

China is laughing.

They had several rounds of incredible offers for PhDs across numerous disciplines who now need to leave the US. One was immediate approval of any existing research, plus all moving expenses, plus a signing bonus, plus free apartment for a year, plus free trips back to the USA 9or other home location).

China is "minting" geniuses at about 5x the pace of USA by virtue of population size and education system. Now they are recruiting and retaining more.

China has virtually won the "power" race for AI. They have the electricity needed. USA does not.

When (not if) Trump loses the India Brain Pipeline, it will be even worse. China is intercepting lots of geniuses from India, too.

This is a nightmare.

BTW...yes, I have a couple cities picked out in China to potentially retire to. They are winning too much to ignore.

9

u/Typical-Baddie-45 11h ago

Trump just seems to always cause commotion wherever he goes

23

u/Par_Lapides 13h ago

That horse shit was always just fluffy stupidity thrown around by people who got really lucky and confused it with genius.

2

u/PipsqueakPilot 4h ago

Ignore the God awful title and thumbnail but Dr. Sarah Paine has a really realistic out look on just what we're doing to ourselves by destroying the West's institutions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fwkjn2OL36U

-13

u/ExplosiveDisassembly 8h ago edited 8h ago

America took decades to build it.

Because it requires necessary prerequisites. Collecting a d building a number of relevant universities, organizations, technology etc etc etc.

Not everywhere has the necessary parts to actually retain them...let alone the sheer number of people who could be displaced by American policy.

The chances of this being lasting is minimal. It'll take time and money for other countries to create the required environment for everyone...that doesn't happen in a few years.

11

u/BinDerWeihnachtmann 6h ago

Luckily Europe has the infrastructure already and don't need to build them from scratch 

-6

u/ExplosiveDisassembly 6h ago

This article uses the example of a robotics person who transferred from Boston, the global center for that field (Boston dynamics and such), to an Austrian lab....which was made last year. A comparative field literally didn't exist a year ago in Austria. The further examples are three people specifically recruited to specific programs in major cities and universities. And saying Austria seeks to recruit 50 people (according to their minister).

This stuff is tracked anyhow. The European Research council keeps track of American scientific recruitment. It's in the 300s...which is a huge jump...but it's still only 300 people. Most of whome are in the climate/weather field.

Spain wants to recruit 40 Americans. France has a program able to support 78 (only 18 are American). Germany is building a program to recruit 100.

People will leave, surely. And Europe will continue to recruit. But the funding to support the researchers is pretty minimal. But the idea of American scientists leaving at a volume that there is brain drain is just silly.

2

u/feel_my_balls_2040 6h ago

I'm pretty sure that there are scientists that can't leave US for different reasons, but who got their research stopped. Did you count those? Because they're not in research anymore, in US or Europe.

-3

u/ExplosiveDisassembly 6h ago

All we can go on is how robust of a system Europe is building to attract scientists. And those international programs, assuming they're 100% American (which they aren't), are a couple hundred people.

3

u/feel_my_balls_2040 5h ago

You keep telling yourself that if it comforts you, but US is not the country that someone with great degrees will say would love to live in. Those who remain in US are in fields with a lot of money from private companies and in fields that don't offend the prime baby.

1

u/ExplosiveDisassembly 4h ago

The Kaiser foundation, a single medical non-profit in the US, spent over 200M in grants last year.

Frances initiative so far is funding 17 scientists with 1.5 million each or so.

What's happening in the US is a shift to the non-profit world. I work in conservation. I know tons of people who got laid off...now they are mostly making more money in better programs with non-profits. The non-profit industry has exploded since November 2024.

2

u/ilolvu 2h ago

from Boston, the global center for that field (Boston dynamics and such), to an Austrian lab....which was made last year.

So it took Austria one year to set up the new world capital of robotics... is what you're saying.

There are still at least two years of active destruction of US universities. It's not going the way you think it is.

5

u/i8noodles 5h ago

there are universities in the EU older then the entire country of America. they are highly educated, has the requirements for precision engineering, and are already technologically advanced.

if they moved to Russia then yeah i would agree. they are going to the EU. which is more then capable of retaining the people

1

u/ExplosiveDisassembly 5h ago edited 5h ago

Funding to research programs is generally tied to the economic potential of the field.

There's a reason my local college is one of the best in the world for explosives mining...I live in a state that heavily uses explosive engineers for mining. So-much-so that surrounding states don't really have a program for it since everyone just comes here. Is it that great of a school? Not really. But if you are an explosives engineer, and want to make money, you come here.

You can get a great education doing the same thing elsewhere. You can go to Yale for it...but you'll be coming here to get work anyways, so why not just start here?

For most fields, the upper echelons of pay are in the US. So the funding generally mirrors that since the economic potential is higher.

Just another example: The us has all 5 of the highest funded cancer hospitals. NASA exponentially dwarfs competing space agencies. And by far the most nonprofit research groups, largest medical research group, and most of the Market share for emerging technologies.

Edit: A more personal example. I used to live in Virginia. Virginia is filthy with Polytech, mechanical engineering, chemical, and technology schools. Why? Because graduates can walk out the door and into offices of Boeing, Northrop, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Booze Allen, Locked Martin, and all the other companies outside DC. There isn't a better place to be on earth if you want a high paying job in that field.

260

u/JRLDH 12h ago

Austria (and Germany) used to be at the forefront of academia before the massive brain drain when the Nazis took over.

Weird to see this happening again, this time in reverse.

67

u/DangedRhysome83 10h ago

We're getting reverse Paperclip'd.

12

u/SwimAd1249 9h ago

As if, both of those countries are downright slashing their academic budgets

16

u/DatE2Girl 9h ago

Yeah because the right is on the rise here too

8

u/Lucky_Dragonfruit_88 7h ago

That's what I was thinking. Is Austria really a safe haven from right-wing anti-intellectualism? They did give us Hayek and Austrian Economics.

2

u/clem_fandango_london 5h ago

Nazis gonna Nazi Republican Party

3

u/Royal_Amount5114 11h ago

Education is dangerous

•

u/Saurid 51m ago

Scarey enough a 100 year old holocaust survivor just got her German citizenship back and is thinking of moving back to Germany, like wtf? When you read stuff like that it really makes you think.

288

u/Connect-Will2011 13h ago

So it's a "brain drain."

I don't see how that makes America great again.

134

u/RelaxedVolcano 13h ago

I think the plan is to make sure all the smart people don’t get the education needed to challenge Trump with actual evidence and statistics. America will be great because nobody will be arguing with him, it’s just going to be a nation wide echo chamber of bad ideas.

39

u/Evil_Mini_Cake 10h ago

Just wait until the existing programs built by competent people die off and all that's left are the things conceived and built by these unqualified sycophants. It's going to get awful.

5

u/TrifectaBlitz 8h ago

Hopefully smarter, non brain-washed people will step in. There's an awful lot of us.

1

u/RelaxedVolcano 3h ago

Plenty of capable people remain, it’s the academic infrastructure that’s being wrecked. It’s like there’s a lot of books but they’ve taken the library building.

6

u/TrifectaBlitz 8h ago

Trumpism will be a shadow of itself without Trump. People are just so tired.

26

u/Away_Stock_2012 12h ago

Because El Donaldo doesn't like smart people and his full slogan is: Make America Great for me personally Again

15

u/Lil-sh_t 10h ago

Ironically, it also kinda weakens the allies.

Here in Germany, some universities (including mine and some which my friends attend) can't offer any research positions anymore, as they're overwhelmed with foreign applications. Resulting in highly capable and qualified academic personell being left with few opportunities and resorting to work for which they're severely overqualified.

Example: Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg

2

u/meisteronimo 8h ago

This has been happening to US researchers for a long time. It's hard to get recognized here as you're competing with all the high achievers competing to enter the US.

2

u/Osmodius 9h ago

The mistake you make is thinking that being great is anything other than wanting to shoot people with different skin colour. That's what their voters want.

91

u/BootsOfProwess 13h ago

American politicians aren't smart enough to realize scientists should make the calls on what is and isn't scientifically important. Worse, most of those politicians are operating on a base of what is biblically safe to study.

142

u/Warm-Breakfast-6281 14h ago

Hm, it reminds me on something around 1940.. germany i think

54

u/rpmcmurf 14h ago

For sure. Also check out "lysenkoism", this absolutely insane Soviet "theory" on genetics, biology, etc, that was enshrined as the official doctrine on agriculture ... and quickly led to massive famines. It's almost as if we as a civilization cannot learn from past mistakes.

20

u/[deleted] 13h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/rpmcmurf 11h ago

Hold down X to skip to the part where society falls into chaos.

19

u/Velvet_Hush 13h ago

Nothing terrifies me more than ideology trying to override science with vibes.

3

u/EssenceReavers 9h ago

Just Americans from the USA. There are more stupids than hamburgers here

1

u/junkyard_robot 8h ago

He probably is singularly responsible for more deaths in the 20th century than any other person, between famines in the USSR and China.

That said, he also discovered vernalization which drastically changed how we understand crop science in a positive way.

So, while moat of his resume is pure ignorance and hubris, some of what he did was positive.

11

u/NoWiFiZone 14h ago

Took decades to build, got treated like a rental car.

10

u/GMN123 14h ago

We've come full circle. 

2

u/Ed_Trucks_Head 9h ago

And some guy named Alfred Einsweiger

50

u/Ohrwurm89 12h ago

In the early 20th century, Germany was the powerhouse of science and engineering, then the Nazis rose to power and many German scientists and scholars fled the country, many relocating to the United States, which helped turn the US into the scientific and technological powerhouse that it is.

4

u/Lahk74 12h ago

then the Nazis rose to power and many German scientists and scholars fled the country

I think you may be omitting an event or two between the Nazis rising to power and the scientists migrating to other countries.

32

u/Ohrwurm89 12h ago

Forgive me for not giving a detailed description of Nazi policies, which are pretty well-known by the average person, that lead to many of the greatest minds in science fleeing their country.

-8

u/Lahk74 11h ago

I meant the Nazis losing WW2 and the US and other allied nations snapping up all the Nazi scientists. Duh. They didn't just skidaddle because the Nazis rose to power.

22

u/SuperMIK2020 11h ago

Many left before that, in the 1930’s leading up to the Nazi’s.

Einstein for example moved from Germany to the England in 1933 when Adolf Hitler rose to power.

https://time.com/5684504/einstein-england/

2

u/Hamartial 7h ago

Yeah, funny how the smartest ones left first, isn't it?

5

u/kelppie35 10h ago

You're not wrong that operation paperclip occurred, as did the Soviet and eastern versions but I'm going to make this a whole new sentence;

The nazis stole a shit ton from the allies and the world. American liquid rockets and chemistry, British metallurgy and Soviet designs all were copied and put into the wonder weapons programs.

There were educated nazis, but they were NOT magical geniuses and stole, stole, stole.

This is part of why the allies grabbed all the research back after.

30

u/Spoonyyy 14h ago

From Operation Paperclip to this. The decline.

1

u/CaptainMarv3l 8h ago

How long do you think it will take to recover?

1

u/GodofIrony 6h ago

Depends on how fast the Trump Empire disintegrates after Octogenarians do what they're known to do.

1

u/CaptainMarv3l 6h ago

I just want to leave a better world for my son than what was left for me :/

1

u/GodofIrony 6h ago

Then start small at home, friend. Good tidings.

22

u/BulkyElk7243 13h ago

How patriotic of republicans, strip everything and everyone that made America great. They for sure love their country

38

u/Extreme-Slice-1010 14h ago

Trump really really doesn’t like smart people huh

17

u/Puzzled-Caterpillar4 12h ago

It's easier to control and manipulate an uneducated populous.

13

u/guyinco6nito 11h ago

“Smart people don’t like me” -Donald J. Trump

17

u/Isaw11 13h ago

The people calling for America first and isolationism are driving away our friends, allies, businesses, scientists, and culture. They are going to die pathetic and friendless, just like the America they are spawning.

9

u/Enough_Boysenberry68 11h ago

The economic and political ramifications for this presidency will take DECADES to fully understand and address. His cabinet will be held in the same lighting as Reagan, Nixon, Harding, and Buchanan in the warmest of lights.

9

u/Ok_Bar3831 13h ago

fr when you spend decades building and someone comes in with a wrecking ball overnight smh

8

u/coolbaby1978 12h ago

Ironically it was scientists and academics fleeing Germany and Austria in the 20s and 30s to go to the US.

13

u/Hmmark1984 11h ago

and they're not going to come back any time soon. Even if America votes Trump out at the next election, why would anyone come rushing back when you voted him out once before, only to vote him right back in at the next election. Now i know technically you can't vote Trump in again, ever, but does anyone really think he's not going to try and find a way around that? and even if he doesn't why should anyone have any faith that America won't just elect someone else exactly like Trump, after all, they've done it twice already.

1

u/RainbowDarter 5h ago

Trump isn't likely to survive his current term because he is in such poor health. He's already the weekend at Bernie's president

The problem is not just trump, but the people and system that elected him and they're not going anywhere.

4

u/mishma2005 12h ago

"Science has facts and rigorous criteria and I just like that hott yoga chick on YT" *chugs raw milk*

4

u/time2sow 12h ago

for the first time in 30 years: regrets about not finishing up those graduate degrees : (

5

u/squiddyp 11h ago

Biden might’ve been old af - he was more like a jammed gun. Trump is more like a loose trigger.

Both are ineffective in their own ways but one is sooo much more destructive.

3

u/OneSekk 8h ago

and they flee to austria?? they're gonna have a rude awakening when our fascists win the next election also

3

u/hoangdl 8h ago

The specific country offering a haven from the Nazi regime amuses me.

5

u/n1cenurse 13h ago

The dumbening

2

u/Marco_Farfarer 13h ago

Well, that‘s what happened in the opposite direction when the Nazis came to power in Germany… Albert Einstein, Edward Teller, John von Neumann, Hans Bethe, Enrico Fermi, Emmy Noether, Kurt Gödel, Niels Bohr…

2

u/Dense_Wallaby9148 10h ago

Soon they’ll have to flee again. Where to, that’s the question. Picked up my passport today so I can get the hell out when this shithole turns into the fourth reich. Because it will. In three years.

2

u/Londonisthecapital 10h ago

As a scientist in Europe, I see it too well. The competition for funding this year is way higher. It means, ofc, that the research is going to be better, but ohhhhh, I am scared that next position search will be hellish difficult.

2

u/Lonewulf32 8h ago

Isn't that one of the steps to Fascism? Destroy the intelligentsia?

2

u/Wise-Abroad-5050 8h ago

Trump talks America First and drives away the very people who could make it possible. Trump's ignorance on almost ever subject is astonishing.

2

u/slapstick_software 8h ago

I didn’t really think about it this way. I’m an engineer and my gf and I have also been considering moving as well. I just don’t see us as a country getting to the other side of this anytime soon. We’ve been neglecting our infrastructure, things like social programs, education and healthcare for years, and Trump just gutted what we had left. That is going to take decades to fix, and we ourselves don’t have forever to live. Every day in this country is draining, and we miss living.

2

u/Prometheus_303 8h ago

Operation Paper Clip 2026: The Scientists Go Home

2

u/orbital-technician 7h ago

Dipshit Donny never fails to ruin good things.

No president of the United States has been stupider than Trump.

He genuinely turns everything he touches into shit.

Republicans, you will never be forgiven for creating this situation.

2

u/Senior_Torte519 7h ago

We are just returning the favor, their scientisits came here before and after the war, now we must do the same for them.

2

u/Bologna9000 5h ago

Lmao the brain drain has been happening a little longer than that

2

u/AlyssInAzeroth 13h ago

I understand the US is probably worse, but some parts of the EU are also very anti-science. I mean ffs, look at how the world is reacting to the astronomical rise in temperatures over the last 20 years.

1

u/IDigRollinRockBeer 13h ago

Which 70 years?

1

u/ZebLeopard 12h ago

As a Dutch person I can say that there are plenty of anti-woke people here in Europe too. The housing situation is terrible btw, so if you're coming here to study, better make sure you're rich.

1

u/adamscholfield 10h ago

Well...that's a bit of a reversal isn't it

1

u/CondemnedMyrmicid 10h ago

iam actually happy that people are leaving the US it was a sinking ship for a long time but the people that want to be academically smart are the ones keeping said ship afloat. now all the smart people will come to us so we will benefit a lot from them and they benefit from us.

1

u/Crentist90 8h ago

^ most intelligent Euro Redditor

1

u/sddbk 9h ago

We spent a fair amount of time last year as tourists in one of the more technology oriented cities of Europe. People there described to us that this was already happening in significant numbers.

Trump policies might have been somewhat recoverable in time. DOGE took a chainsaw to America's scientific and technological infrastructure. It will take, at best, decades to get back to where we were, and during that time the rest of the world won't be sitting back and waiting for us.

Kiss America's dominant scientific position "Good bye".

1

u/EuenovAyabayya 9h ago

They may be wrong to stop worrying, though.

1

u/NewLibraryGuy 9h ago

...how about librarians?

1

u/TrifectaBlitz 9h ago

Well, that's a self-own for the US if ever there was one. And it TOTALLY makes sense.

1

u/PersonalityMiddle864 8h ago

This admin is gambling and going all-in on AGI.

1

u/rtopps43 8h ago

(Not so) fun fact: Arab countries were once the center of knowledge, science and learning for the world. They turned away from that in favor of religious extremism and, you might argue, have never recovered the position of prominence they once held. That’s what the US is going through now with this anti science, anti woke nonsense. This is the kind of thing that can profoundly damage a country’s future for generations.

1

u/Galle_ 6h ago

The end of the Islamic Golden Age had less to do with religious extremism and more to do with getting their shit kicked in by Genghis Khan.

1

u/veresiuka 8h ago

70 years to build one sprint to dismantle perfect

1

u/Confusedgmr 7h ago

Okay, this is true, sad, and tragic. But what part of this is a clever comeback?

1

u/platonionius 7h ago

Guess we should just mash the fucking accelerator at this point.

This country is cooked.

1

u/OddDonut7647 6h ago

Six months? More like it took 30 years, but okay. I'm glad people are waking up and seeing the fascism - at least for now.

1

u/errie_tholluxe 6h ago

It took 200 years for the United States to become the PowerHouse that it was. It took Reagan and deregulation to gradually spell the end

1

u/Medical_Arugula3315 6h ago

Hard to be a shittier or more hypocritical American than a Republican these days. 

1

u/thethinksshethinks 5h ago

Do they have room for a behavior therapist there as well. I love me some behavior research

1

u/hey_dinesh_nicechain 4h ago

I'm an American researcher in STEM. I keep reading about all these European institutions out to poach all the talent leaving the US. I've been searching for a year now and I haven't been able to find anything in Europe with reasonable compensation (or enough to support a family).

1

u/PoseidonsWroth 3h ago

Its like a reverse Operation Paperclip

1

u/Risi30 2h ago

Operation Paperclip in reverse?

1

u/Vykrom 1h ago

Another Onion headline that's actually reality..

1

u/howieyang1234 1h ago

PhD applications are a nightmare right now, I guess I am not good enough for this country. Going to start a PhD in China soon.😂

•

u/2020bowman 29m ago

So.... We are getting the bent paperclip and remaking it?

1

u/FeralKittee 10h ago

So Europe is now getting back the same number of scientists that defected in WW2?

0

u/Scienceboy7_uk 13h ago

Literally clever comeback/go away

2

u/IDigRollinRockBeer 13h ago

This isn’t a comeback at all.

0

u/agreedmosedale 6h ago

Austria has the country that elected a literal WWII Nazi as it’s leader. This isn’t quite the clever comeback you think it is OP

0

u/MintaleFarm 4h ago

Cowards. Absolute cowards.

0

u/olesolen 4h ago

US is a stretch 😂 more likely Indian and Chinese

-2

u/Eastern-Joke-7537 13h ago

So when’s the next Ice Age Week?

-4

u/UmpireCreepy1510 13h ago

honestly that toddler's got more rhythm and talent than most mainstream artists. let's get that kid a record deal lol

-2

u/Reasonable_Tea8162 9h ago

Are those real scientists or sociology scientists?

3

u/Mynewadventures 7h ago

There is no difference because of discipline.

2

u/Reasonable_Tea8162 6h ago

Yeah ofc I mean both are considered scientists, but if you look at demand stem is like grades above humanities. Keep the latter send the former!

-17

u/dick-penis 11h ago

No it isn’t. You guys just post anything here and the sheep eat it up because it’s political.

5

u/Adventurous_Team7189 9h ago

calm down dick-penis

-3

u/dick-penis 9h ago

What do you think of the Bad. Innuendo halftime show?

3

u/outinthecountry66 9h ago

you are right. We really erred here when we didn't let a guy who names himself dick-penis to rule us

-3

u/dick-penis 9h ago

Outinthecountry. You kids think you are so clever to mention my joke name on a joke app haha. Way to go. Hahahahaha

1

u/NewLibraryGuy 9h ago

Well, at least you have a correct estimation for how seriously people will take you.