What would be a good way to make this a reality with serious consequences and satisfaction for the independent researchers? What specific platforms do you suggest? I know in today's world you can get information on any topic for free, and follow the path you desire in your knowledge journey, but to do it in a organized manner (with groups of people working towards some goals) is still a challenge. I was visualizing some sort of a dynamic topic/project based community website which has enough inbuilt authentication to allow serious groups of people to congregate, co-work, plan, execute and be successful in implementing their ideas, without suffering from the drawbacks of academia (or industry)? Does such a thing exist, or does it need to be built. We can of course extend this idea (if successful) to a more sustainable ecosystem of academia and industry including financial independence.