Well, no, but the value isn't so much in raw resources as much as it is facilitating the means of processing them.
Like, sure, you could try to make several trips from the swamp back to your main base, or, you could set up a swamp base and process the iron you find while you're there, circumventing the need to load up a boat full of nothing but scrap iron.
Sure, lobby groups do pay off some people with a PhD to lie for them (Patrick Moore), that's not up for debate.
But to imply that this is the norm is just ignorant of how research is conducted.
Most scientists are either employed by a company, working towards a very specific, non contentious goal (like developing cold fusion), or are involved in research at a university, paid for in grants by their government to research whatever has been approved as worthy of investigation.
Nobody is pressuring these researchers to find evidence to support any particular agenda, the chips land where they fall. There's no fat cat smoking a cigar telling the climate science team at their local university that they need to find more evidence to crash the petrol stocks so they can sell more solar panels.
Oh, you think seeders are your ally, but you merely adopted piracy as an adult. I was born in it, moulded by it. I didn't pay for anything until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but expensive.
The peers betray you, because they belong to me. I will show you my torrent collection, whilst preparing to show you my ratio. Then I will set my upload speed limit to 0.
Good to know, but as a purist, I don't like playing with mods which change things in ways which could break the game if uninstalled (the one exception being UFO4P).
What is your favourite TV series?
Would you recommend it to others?
Would you recommend it if the first 3 hours weren't very entertaining, but were necessary for plot development?