It really is a shame that modern academia has broken the promise of what it used to be, and what it still (often falsely) claims to be. With so many prospective

It really is a shame that modern academia has broken the promise of what it used to be, and what it still (often falsely) claims to be. With so many prospective academics and so few tenured positions, academia becomes a cutthroat fight to accumulate more publications at whatever cost in order to build up one's career. Lack of funding sources leads to many people fighting over a shrinking piece of the pie. Those who are funding give initial funding to multiple groups with the goal of continuing funding whoever is most impressive -- everyone wants a good return on their investment. As a result, there's a tendency to only focus on the next progress report, focusing on short term results that are visible and can get media attention. This leads to a focus on salesmanship and less on actually figuring things out. Academia had a specific set of pros and cons that made it a distinct entity from industry. As time as passed, academia has been taking on more and more of the cons of industry (focus on short-term thinking) without taking on the pros of industry (higher pay).