Yet another grant proposal

Yet another grant proposal

I've been preparing yet another grant proposal for a research programme new to me. So, I've spent days reading yet more bold pronouncements, learning new acronyms, adapting my intentional and ambitions to new Procrustean frameworks. Why should I do that instead of research, instead of reading something I could learn from, instead of working out a problem and exploring new approaches? Who thinks up all this triviality? It gives the impression of direction and accountability but all it does is encourage conformism: yes-men and sycophants who inflate every new vogue -sorry, societal or scientific challenge- with the samen enthusiasm and apparent loyalty before moving on to the next opportunity to get money for old rope. It's a waste of time, my tax euros, of everybody's time and money. Just imagine that fiction was written like that, that every short story and novel followed the same template, that authors spent their time writing proposals instead of books. It would have been a much poorer world, with very few books worth reading - which is arguably the case with most scientific publications today. The worst is that they're turning me into a grumpy old man, despite my intention to stay playful and happy. I need to find a real solution to such inevitably time-wasting activities before long.