You need to take it with current context, not with the nostalgic past when pure research happened out of curiosity. World is more purpose-driven now. Scientists are employees of some establishment with goals that are driven by the funding. If you are funded for doing Fourier-like research that must be for patents which are fully commercial-goal driven.
Everyone is connected to financial strings like puppets. If you are doing research without financial connection, you must be very rich, having a personal lab, having lots of free time, or not having family duties and worldly goals. Those are rare people, just like how wealthy countries had more scientists in the past centuries.
Everyone is connected to financial strings like puppets. If you are doing research without financial connection, you must be very rich, having a personal lab, having lots of free time, or not having family duties and worldly goals. Those are rare people, just like how wealthy countries had more scientists in the past centuries.