[hzhou321]

I won't deny the reality of modern day science worker. But the fact of they are paid/respected at minimum does not justify their motivation. Just like a typical minimum wage worker is not doing the work out of pleasure, a typical postdoc is not pursuing a career of pure knowledge. Of course there are some component in it, but from what I see, they are pursuing a career -- a tenure as you put it, an end result that is secure in income and high in status of respect and rich in freedom -- even when that is more of an illusion. So the bottom line is I don't believe there are as much people as many scientists today that are motivated by curiosity alone. They are pursuing money and fame, even when that is an illusion (to certain extent).

The current science career is more of an engineering career, where people have clear goals with constant feasibility assessment and motivated and encouraged to seek short cuts.

So I am not saying we are paying scientists too much. I am saying scientists don't need to be paid, only need to be sustained. Not a many people would be happy for a career that is merely sustained, but not many people are truly born to be a scientist -- think about Einstein being happy at a patent office.

EDIT:

So I agree that look at the way today we do science, it is of concern. However, I think that is largely a mislabeling. Today's science career is more of a engineering practice; and look at the way we do engineering, we are doing fine today. Some place some people build a shoddy bridge, it is something of gossip, but not much of concern.

Think about it: science is not supposed to produce a product (medicine in this context) but it is supposed to answer some questions (not given by the society but of one's own). To answer a demand or solve a question (with a belief it can be answered), that is engineering.

Of course, engineering is important. And there is nothing wrong for a few people pursuing science on the side while doing their engineer jobs.

[maxander]

Ok, the vision of scientists as an ascetic class only appealing to the dyed-in-the-wool seekers of knowledge has some appeal. But, there's a problem there, too- sure, Einstein would still have published his breakthroughs, but many of the thousands of researchers whose works were the basis for his wouldn't have. The pace of scientific progress we're accustomed to now is the product of the work of thousands upon thousands of scientists; the contribution of celebrated geniuses like Einstein are dramatic but represent a rounding error compared to the whole rate of progress. We need a way to recruit and retain the rank-and-file ordinary-human researchers as well, and that requires compensation somewhat proportional to the effort they're putting in.

[hzhou321]

I wouldn't go out and say Einstein is a rounding error :).

When we say science progress is built on top of giant's shoulder, that giant don't have to be and often is not just other/previous scientists. Engineering, culture, or even witch crafting all have contributed to science.

We need a lot of rank-and-file ordinary-human doing their ordinary works out of ordinary motivations, they will provide the basis necessary for the a few true scientists to question the known and explore the unknown.