Well, cheaters are generally more interested in the short term than the long term, and non-cheaters have to content with it too, before they can get to the long

Well, cheaters are generally more interested in the short term than the long term, and non-cheaters have to content with it too, before they can get to the long term. > Surely the conditions for being a professional academic are much more favorable than times in the past. (By virtue only that University is more accessible to more people today than any other time) If anything this has made things worse in the current system, because it has grown so much more competitive. Competition is good only so far as success in the competition is based on contributing to the overall goal, and academia lacks a good alignment between that and rewards, so the competition has some fairly significant negative effects. I agree there are likely ways to fix the current system, but it will require a concerted effort from many directions, as the current incentive structure rewards many in the current system for perpetuating it.