Right you are. But the solution is to make the research funds adequate, then there is no cutthroat competition for them. There was a far better climate among physicists when it took 2 grant proposals to get a grant then today when it takes 20. So what we need is a great expansion of government-fudned research. The money there if we, say, stop useless wars and take back the bank bailout to name just a couple of examples.
