And in order survive the "publish or perish" pressure, the easiest way is "more of the same," which is also inimicable to innovation. However, the main substan

And in order survive the "publish or perish" pressure, the easiest way is "more of the same," which is also inimicable to innovation. However, the main substantial reasons for doing research in universities (that I can think of) is to get access to high powered equipment and excellent information stores (top profs, libraries, journals, other data, etc.). I don't know of another good way to have such access without being part of the system, so unless my field of research is entirely outside of the province of today's academic disciplines, or I'm quite wealthy, it seems like membership is a necessity.