All of this is true in a world where people do research because it’s fun and they want to do so. Which is a good assumption if you’re sitting on a few million dollars. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for most of the people doing research.
That is, research topics are polygamous, but research funds aren’t.
Also, for the same reason, choosing to write mediocre papers is a better choice to look productive than attempting to have really cool insights and results and failing doing so: it’s hard to tell apart people who failed at stuff from people who did nothing if you are the one to pay them.
All of this is true in a world where people do research because it’s fun and they want to do so. Which is a good assumption if you’re sitting on a few million dollars. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for most of the people doing research.
That is, research topics are polygamous, but research funds aren’t.
Also, for the same reason, choosing to write mediocre papers is a better choice to look productive than attempting to have really cool insights and results and failing doing so: it’s hard to tell apart people who failed at stuff from people who did nothing if you are the one to pay them.