Comment by eesmith

We are agreed that the first is meant more negative, and the second more positive, yes?

Is this researcher more like the first case or the second case?

The Norse used their ships for trade and pirating, and to travel places where alternative transit was far too difficult. Like your farming example, trade and pirating helped put food on the table.

This researcher did none of those. His income came from other sources.

What does it mean to "play Viking", and how is it connected to monetizing one's PhD, which is the other half of what I complained about?

(In any distinctive sense. Anyone with a career in their PhD field has by definition monetized their PhD, and in some careers (like my high school teachers), a PhD in any field gives you a salary raise. But none of the examples are referred to "playing X" in order to monetize their education.)