The only collective and knowledge based activities of scientific research that the people have access to is sci-hub, who have done more to advance scientific understanding for humanity than most government institutions have in decades
Except for people that live near research libraries, which is a lot of people. I use sci-hub and don't like Springer, but it's hard to see how most government [research] institutions haven't advanced our knowledge in decades. That just seems like another statement which is not so. (BTW, when you go to math conventions, at least, there are multiple open access tables in the exhibit hall, to reduce the cost of the free sharing of knowledge that is so essential).
