Don't tell me what, tell me how. This is related to the modern version of academia, turned to a paper-making factory where mediocre professors toil away grant

Don't tell me what, tell me how. This is related to the modern version of academia, turned to a paper-making factory where mediocre professors toil away grant after grant waiting retirement. Still, young people will do a PhD just to see how deep the rabbit hole goes research-wise, even if they know that somewhere around middle life they'll switch to writing expensive software or overselling their skills to groups of developers. The problems are not well-defined. There is no grand scientific mountain to climb (despite the global narrative about climate crisis, photovoltaics and battery chemistry are not the sexiest of subjects). It does feel like science loses some of the mystery of previous generations and has become a lot more procedural. How do you motivate people to become mystics?