After my PhD, I intend to work for a while in a "real job" while saving money so I can eventually "retire" and go independent. Or something like that. The costs

After my PhD, I intend to work for a while in a "real job" while saving money so I can eventually "retire" and go independent. Or something like that. The costs for me (theoretical fluid dynamics) is pretty minimal as I don't need expensive equipment or what not, so I think this is doable. You're right about the constraints. Even when the constraints aren't there, many academics are used to thinking that they are, so they seem blind to possibilities outside of the constraints. As an example of the latter, consider Scott Aaronson's discussion of a quantum-inspired recommendation algorithm: https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3880 https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=3880 On that page he wrote "On the Hacker News thread, some commenters are lamenting that such a brilliant mind as Ewin’s would spend its time figuring out how to entice consumers to buy even more products that they don’t need. I confess that that’s an angle that hadn’t even occurred to me".