[simpaticoder]

There is a useful distinction between "wanting" and "attachment", but one usually turns into the other. Your mention of room temp superconductors is ironic since they have all been precisely attachment-driven frauds that start with wanting.

[freehorse]

These are the exceptions imo. Most of it is funding-driven (or sometimes wanting-status-driven) than pure wanting-driven. Most researchers do not even care that much about their actual field and would change the field to do what they really want to do, albeit funding keeps there where they are.