>> You should not underestimate the effect that constant administrative and grant writing might have on a researcher: many graduate students will tell you of th

>> You should not underestimate the effect that constant administrative and grant writing might have on a researcher: many graduate students will tell you of their disappointment when encountering high status scientists who cannot seem to do actual research anymore. While I don't have the data to support this my intuition is that there are now many, many more researchers than in earlier years- both senior researchers who already have a career and junior researchers that are trying to get theirs started. The amount of science funding probably has also increased, but there are just too many people exiting PhD programmers for all of us to find cozy research jobs where we are free to pursue our interllectural interests undisturbed while the public money slowly but steadily drips in. In other words, a moderate pot of grant money combined with a huge number of new PhDs makes for huge competition.