RAS is losing touch with reality. Several years ago, when, at the request of the government, the Russian Academy of Sciences outlined priorities for the next 20 years, not future promising areas were mentioned among them, but the current ones, which are already being actively pursued, for example, biotechnology and nanotechnology. The time machine is stuck in its time. The past merits of academics are good, but modern science is mostly not done by them. When the achievements of the teams of Russian scientists are told at international exhibitions and symposia, these teams are usually not related to the RAS. There is no doubt that they are better versed in what is currently topical in science than academics, and yet they are not able to influence, for example, the funding of certain research. Not being members of the Academy, they cannot always participate in the implementation of the RAS expert functions. And the gap between them and the academy seems insurmountable: most of them, with all their desire, will not be able to get not only academicians, but even corresponding members. Yes, they basically do not want to go there: many Russian scientists with real merit work mainly abroad, and they are torn out of our system of science.

Finally, there is another unpleasant consequence of the severance of feedback between the RAS and the scientific community: the fact is that young promising scientists are much more involved in science-intensive business, the development of which our government considers a priority. It turns out that the center of fundamental research, the largest in the system of Russian science, is divorced from the solution of the pressing problems facing the country. Nor can the academy act on behalf of the community of leading Russian scientists, since many of them simply do not belong there.