Not sure that applies

>It seems to me that this is a very old idea. Mathematicians have usually been sponsored in one way or another, but their researches have been given away freely to benefit us all. The output did not become the private property of anyone

But the world has/needs fewer mathematicians than programmers. Scrabbling around for funding is bad enough when there's only a few thousand people fighting for it (and even then it wastes time better spent on thinking). But there's millions of programmers around the world and we pretty much need them all. That's a whole different ball game.

As another commentator posted:If you're so keen on the idea then ask your employer to stop paying you. Try and find alternative funding and see how far that gets you.