Having spent a looong time as a grad student and postdoc, I can assure you that people can work quite hard without the threat of job loss hanging over their hea

Having spent a looong time as a grad student and postdoc, I can assure you that people can work quite hard without the threat of job loss hanging over their heads. There's an argument to be made that the job structure provides direction to someone's work, but there's also a lot to be said for allowing more room for creativity, and freedom of collaboration that you don't get in the current structure.