I completely agree, completing a Ph.D. is an immense accomplishment and not a limitation! It is proof that you can solve a difficult problem. But, in my opinion, not necessary to develop that kind of skill. The same person dropped in any challenging environment outside of academia would likely thrive, given the opportunity.

The incentive structure in academia often (not always) leads to talented people solving problems that they don’t care about only for the sake of getting published. Wouldn’t this effort (and it is a lot of effort to finish a Ph.D.) be better spent on something more meaningful (not to mention better compensated)?