I agree. IMO the biggest mistake that was made was lowering the bar for entry. It used to be really hard to get into university and only brightest hardest working students could do it. Now it is the case that anyone can do it. We now have more scientists than are really needed. Jobs in that spare are rarely permanent, most they are projects dependent on government , big pharma or NGO funding. The industry is now a solution looking for a problem to solve. AIDS, Covid and climate change have created a lot of jobs for a lot of scientists.

Oh I wouldn't say we have too many scientists. They're just shockingly misallocated, for all the reasons you listed. Basically cheap money. We still only live about a week and a half before expiring - at least that's how it feels. Are any scientists working on actual longevity? Just pharmaceuticals.... Anyways. When I went to university, I qualified to go to the best one in my state, and they told me that - but they couldn't let me in because they were required to let in all these people who didn't qualify, but belonged to special classes. That really sucked. Basically it ended all my young liberalish leanings. The school I ended up at was fine - its not a big deal, now that I know what's what. But man, those people literally stole what was rightfully mine... An inconsequential thing, but still, theft is theft. If I did it again, I'd wait a few years, and start off at a trade school. University didn't teach anything real. It really was a waste if time.