It sounds like you are in a good position - you can have total control over what you work on. You could even write your own grants and get other people to research what you want alongside you. Since the traditional PhD path isn't showing that much success, doesn't it make more sense to just research what you want?
All the papers are free online and authors will generally discuss their work with you if you have intelligent questions.
BTW, this is what I do. I freelance about 20% of the time and spend about 50% of it reading physics papers. So far I haven't produced anything new, but I have greatly increased my intuitive understanding.
All the papers are free online and authors will generally discuss their work with you if you have intelligent questions.
BTW, this is what I do. I freelance about 20% of the time and spend about 50% of it reading physics papers. So far I haven't produced anything new, but I have greatly increased my intuitive understanding.