Stuart Buck on "The Case for Crazy Philanthropy"

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Stuart Buck, executive director of the Good Science Project—a think tank devoted to better understanding how science is done and funded. Stuart previously served as a vice president at Arnold Ventures, where he focused (among other things) on scientific practice and reproducibility, and he holds a PhD in education policy and a JD. Stuart also wrote a fascinating essay last year for Palladium Magazine titled “The Case for Crazy Philanthropy,” and Samuel wanted to explore the idea with him.

Together, they discuss the nature and history of “crazy philanthropy,” why we don’t see more of it, and how to incentivize everything from risk-taking to new—and genuinely weird—types of research institutions. They also dig into metascience, neglected research, and federal science funding more broadly, including potential scenarios for where U.S. science might head next. This conversation was recorded in September 2025, so a few references may be slightly dated.