What he's describing is extremely common (having an advisor who is loosely interested or competent). But this also what research is about. As he said, this is h

What he's describing is extremely common (having an advisor who is loosely interested or competent). But this also what research is about. As he said, this is his PhD, not his advisor's. His advisor should be able help him navigate in the academic world, making the right contacts, funding his trips to conferences or summer schools and so on... But reading stuff for a couple of years before being able to even know what you want to really work on about is part of the deal. And also, pretty much all PhDs are about grabbing low hanging fruits at the frontier of the current knowledge, very few people make significant contributions. Some students need more supervision that others, and similarly, different advisors have different style. It's important to be aware of that when starting a PhD and make sure there's a proper match.