[yurlungur]

Grant writing was also one of the aspects that most discouraged me from pursuing an academic career as well. I witnessed first hand the stress it induced in even the most capable professors and the level of result oriented thinking it mandated throughout the scientific process. Being a professor is a bit like being a lead contractor for NIH and NSF. If you want the resources (money) you need to chase where the fad is at. Failing that you will have to do a lot of teaching just to sustain yourself, and will cause your grad students to have a bad time throughout their career in your lab.

With all that said...the amount of academic freedom even within this flawed system is still greater than most other places I know of. Perhaps if you are a distinguished researcher working on your own terms and funded by one of the big tech companies things are better.