This is why great discoveries come out of the patent office.

Related: http://paulgraham.com/marginal.html

To understand this story it helps to realize that in the olden days there was something called "tenure".

Sure,

I was being facetious though. While the story is interesting, it should be considered in the current context.

A huge swathe of senior researchers are burnt out but the wisdom Feynman imparts isn't particularly helpful to them due to the nature of academia today.

I think you can still use Feynman-like play in academic work, you just have to pretend to the funding people and the MBAs running the university that you're "totally serious", that your work can be turned into money etc.

I have a few scientific projects that I play around with when I'm stuck on my "totally serious stuff I'm supposed to work with" which give publications at some point, but that's more of a side-effect than anything else.

And of course scientists now bullshit an extraordinary amount when it comes to future applications of their work - they often don't particularly care, the MBAs just want to hear their mantras.