As someone currently in a PhD program, I strongly disagree with you. It looks like other people are carrying the torch for me pretty well. But I will say a coup

As someone currently in a PhD program, I strongly disagree with you. It looks like other people are carrying the torch for me pretty well. But I will say a couple of things. You seem to really value "learning for the sake of learning." If so, you already have it figured out that you want to spend 5+ years learning and that you don't care about planning ahead for your life after that. You already have a tentative life plan (though part of it is the default "null plan"). People who think they have a life plan figured out without going through a long, careful process of figuring it out, should still do so, just to make sure their assumptions are valid.