As for your "not-so-fair response" - I seriously doubt that you know enough about academia to have any confidence in this view. I think that first hand experience is crucial to developing a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of academia.

I definitely don't have the necessary first-hand-experience: I was reporting second-hand the impressions of a few people who I respect but whose insights I've yet to verify. Sorry, I should have said that. I deserve some amount of shame for my lack of epistemic hygiene there.

(I say this with all due respect - I've read and admired some of your top level posts.)

Thanks! I really appreciate it. A big reason for the large amounts of comments I've been barfing up lately is a desire to improve my writing ability such that I'll be able to make more and better posts in the future.