Yeah its very true, the incentives are screwed. I think you're touching on the key difference here. Someone like Euler would have had to been forced not to do m

Yeah its very true, the incentives are screwed. I think you're touching on the key difference here. Someone like Euler would have had to been forced not to do math, it was his passion. But you have all these "scientists" going through the motions doing "science" because its their job. Passionate individuals will always be rare and the worse part is that the current scientific system in place is tailor made to root these passionate individuals out. A good modern example is Grigori Perelman.