Thank you for your reply but I do not think you really engaged with my reasoning? First, I was explicitly talking about the handful of brilliant people who lit

Thank you for your reply but I do not think you really engaged with my reasoning? First, I was explicitly talking about the handful of brilliant people who literally no longer have to apply to grants, or, if they do so, they are all but guaranteed to get funding for whatever topic they want to work on. And in your second paragraph you repeat the usual talking point. But why do you think it did not convince those people?