[mattkrause]

You do get paid, though not very much ($15-30k for a PhD student, $40-65k for a postdoc), especially compared to a tech salary. The uncertainty is a lot higher too.

As for why people work at those salaries, there's more to life than money. Discovering stuff is fun and working on stuff that really helps people (not in the "expensive subscription juice service" sort of way) is rewarding. People teach for the same reason.

OTOH, taking a job at these wages is a luxury and chases good people out of the field. My spouse and I are both academic research scientists, but anything happens to one of us, the other's out ASAP.