I guess people just get tired of having to be machines of continual creation. It must be terribly wearing. I'm not surprised it becomes just crank-turning after a while.

Unrelated but I'd like to plug this which is brilliant, though it seems the author burned out a while ago. One of the best comics I've come across https://abstrusegoose.com/

Hit Random a few times and you'll start getting some good ones. He seems to be a high level physicist so there are some impenetrable bits of maths etc. which you can safely skip.