@SuzanEraslan For some, and by some I mean "me", the academic setting is a helpful system of incentives to expend effort on the dry bits of a subject, creating a foundation for moving on to the juicier bits. I aspire to autodidacticism, but value the structure of academic formality, not to mention being surrounded by other people doing the similar stuff, with whom to share thoughts and debate. The paper is way less important than the process ... to "some".