There’s no question that people are attracted by status and funding. But status and funding are really good incentives for people to actually get work done. In math for example, status is tied pretty closely to mathematical output, so trying to go for status helps. Similarly, in biomedical engineering, funding is tied pretty closely to the production of functioning medical devices. Just because people have status and funding as goals rather than pure productivity doesn’t mean they won’t be very productive.
There’s no question that people are attracted by status and funding. But status and funding are really good incentives for people to actually get work done. In math for example, status is tied pretty closely to mathematical output, so trying to go for status helps. Similarly, in biomedical engineering, funding is tied pretty closely to the production of functioning medical devices. Just because people have status and funding as goals rather than pure productivity doesn’t mean they won’t be very productive.