[kkylin]

I second this. My field (applied math) isn't super-dependent on having a grant, and writing a proposal once every couple years isn't a chore, and it's a good exercise to put your plans on paper in a coherent way and try to trouble-shoot obvious problems. And I can always opt out if I don't feel like it -- I just have to pay my own way to conferences (no big deal), not have a summer salary (fortunately no big deal for me), and my grad students have to do more teaching and take longer to finish. The travel and student funding, honestly, are the main reasons I bother anymore.

OTOH, life scientists I have talked to or worked with (both in basic & medical research) seem to be writing proposals all the time, and that just seems really unpleasant in all sorts of ways, on top of problems that have been discussed here ad nauseum.