This is an idealized view of science and academia that has no grounding in reality. People in academia feel a lot of pressure to research specific topics. The p

This is an idealized view of science and academia that has no grounding in reality. People in academia feel a lot of pressure to research specific topics. The pressure is not necessarily from the market, but from publications. If you "explore your interests" without looking at what would be publishable or not, chances are you're not gonna get a job in academia. These considerations of publication are often quite short-term oriented. Conversely, you find investors comfortable in investing in businesses having slim chances of profitability before at least 10 years, because fundamental research can lead to huge market gains down the road. So it's far from being a case of intellectual freedom against quick profits.