Are professors smart but risk averse and that's why they want tenure?

The primary job of a tenured professor is usually research --- not teaching. Research results are how most get "tenure" to start with. Most universities don't/won't offer tenure to those who only teach. In many cases, tenured professors delegate teaching to their graduate students.

Tenure helps eliminate bias and financial influence from research. Research that people like Elon Musk rely on in order to make money.

Some research simply doesn't pay off until decades later. Quantum mechanics was useless when it was being researched, but the foundation of much of our life today, from lighting to electronics.

Risk isn't really a factor. It's just really hard work with no immediate returns.

But you need people like Musk too, who apply that knowledge. The research makes electric cars possible, but people like Musk put them on the road and in space. Two different models necessary to society.

Education is a top goal of society. If you did not have professors, you would not have society as it is today.

Why is tenure so important?

You're surrounded by 20 year old blue haired angsty people who aren't dealing with their hormones. Tenure makes those profs not a target.

I attended a R1 university, and it was up or out for professors. I think they were encouraged to either get tenure or move to another school where they would get tenure. It's no different that a private sector jobs where you are expected to get promoted to a certain point or you need to move on.

I wouldn't call them risk averse. You get paid peanuts and treated like crap for years in the hope that you'll find a research path that generates funding. It's a lot less risky to get a private sector job and make money.

As far as Elon Musk versus professors, it's a different type of risk. I knew somebody who sacrificed a lot of potential money for years of his life so he could try an contribute to research for a specific medical condition. He was brilliant and I'm sure he could have made 4X the salary in a tech job.

Wait, society respects Elon Musk? That's news to me.