I understand where you are coming from, but if you are starting out on a PhD and decide to do research that is branching off from work done by someone like Gino

I understand where you are coming from, but if you are starting out on a PhD and decide to do research that is branching off from work done by someone like Gino you could spend a long time chasing ghosts and it will be hard for you to turn round and say "I think this is actually BS". Even once you are over that hump you will have quite a few years going from one short-term grant to another, with your ability to get funding being dependent on your previous work. If that has been stymied because you were basing it off dodgy research of other people it could take a long time to build up the kind of record where you get to diversify and some any kind of academic security of freedom.