Motivation of scientific research

An article in the online version of the newspaper FAZ these days brought me to think about my own motivation of doing scientific research. I think it's pure curiosity - nothing more, nothing less. But in my professional environment I see at least some doctoral students that strive for relations with more senior researchers/professors/etc. I ask myself: what are their motives? Maybe, to have a better start after graduation. Maybe, because they generally like older people and want to surround themselves with they people they like. For me, it's startling because I cannot resist the feeling that the relation these people build is more of strategic nature, not real. Fortunately I see many other doctoral students whose first motivation is curiosity. And I hope that science as subject will continue to be grounded in curiosity, not in building up pure reputation networks.