I have not left science completely: I've made my own job. It is possible but it is only made harder because of the closed system.
There are many of us who've left academia and still do science. We're generally maligned, and removed from the ability to even participate in a discussion due to a variety of academic access restrictions, and why?
What's more, day by day people are showing how to achieve scientific credibility and influence through their blogs and paper hosting services like ArXiv or, as Michael Nielsen points out, open journals like PLoS Biology. The majority of scientists still bow to tenure pressure, and frankly I don't understand why. There are other opportunities if you want to gain status, and one doesn't even have to gain traditional academic status if one wants to do real science. There are other options.
Which academic access restrictions are you talking about? I know people who have started independent "institutes" but the only reason you need to do so is to receive federal funding. It's true that if you brand yourself as an "independent researcher", people might be inclined to think you are a crackpot, but publishing real papers should take care of that.
I'm not sure blogs are a relevant source for scientific studies though. Not necessarily because I think peer review is the greatest system, but having your paper published in an actual journal (open journals are fine) at least means you managed to convince a few other people that it's worth looking at the paper.
There are many of us who've left academia and still do science. We're generally maligned, and removed from the ability to even participate in a discussion due to a variety of academic access restrictions, and why?
What's more, day by day people are showing how to achieve scientific credibility and influence through their blogs and paper hosting services like ArXiv or, as Michael Nielsen points out, open journals like PLoS Biology. The majority of scientists still bow to tenure pressure, and frankly I don't understand why. There are other opportunities if you want to gain status, and one doesn't even have to gain traditional academic status if one wants to do real science. There are other options.