>> A reward system based on paper publishing and conference speeches is fundamentally broken.
After reading that I'm wondering, what is the reward?
After reading that I'm wondering, what is the reward?
Think of it like getting a Nature or Science paper, or something in Phys Rev, or Cell. It's about prestige.
The real issue is conferences taking the place of academic journals. In most fields conferences are laid back places to share your WIP. In CS, conferences require full papers which means many ML researchers (for example) structure their whole year around meeting the NeurIPS and ICML/ICLR deadlines. It's a bit broken because those conferences have limited capacity and it can be a lottery if you get in. Journals don't have the same restriction and don't have deadlines unless you're going for a special issue, so you can actually take the time to polish before submitting.
This is true, but I think for many researchers the main motivation is self-esteem. It's the way they are ranked among their peers. In other circles, it may be your bonus, or how fast you run a marathon. It may be seem silly but this is what drives many researchers.