[neuromantik8086]

This is spot on. I was surprised the first time I worked at a major university just how toxic the environment was and how little mindshare was spent towards actually contemplating compelling hypotheses / experiments. It was much less of the ideal "life of the mind" I thought it would be and much more like show business / social climbing, minus the widespread name recognition and glamor.

I was already on the way out of science when I started working at that job, but the publish or perish culture really accelerated my departure.

It's also interesting how the current incentives really warp the incentive structures not just at big research universities, but also at small liberal arts colleges. I grew up as a fac brat, and so I've been able to tune into a lot of dialogue about the latest crop of new professors coming in to replace older professors as they retire, and a lot of the older professors are genuinely shocked at how little emphasis the newer professors place on teaching (traditionally what SLACs have focused on) compared to research. Even at schools with around 2000 students, new professors are demanding generous starter packages that no one would really have thought to ask for in the 70s.

[Balgair]

To be fair, it's been ~50 years since the 70s. The Professor Corps should pretty much be entirely different people.