It is pretty hard on honest scientists these days. If you ask the wrong questions, you find funding evaporating. If you fail to support the desired outcomes, funding (and employment) vanish faster than Tequila at a Sammy Hagar concert.

It's not new and being a technologist instead of a scientist isn't a cure. The current intolerant politics finds it's way into everything. It is increasingly hard to cling to facts and valid analytical methods. Priorities are set by politics, as is funding. It is stifling innovation in so many areas.