I'm an example of this trend. I trained for a decade in big data for neuroimaging. Then I realized I was working long hours with little upside beyond my own curiosity. I certainly wasn't changing the world in any tangible way. I had originally gone into neuroscience to understand my family's history of mental illness. Ten years later I was helping no one - not even myself.

I'm not convinced Big Science is in trouble though. Those who have the motivation and talent to stay in the academy will continue to do so. Yes, outstanding people will be lost but Science can progress from their contributions to commercial efforts. Geoff Hinton ends up at Google but we'll keep hearing from him the best use of his talents - the improvements to products we all use every day at a massive scale.