Chemist here. If there's one thing that being in a research lab does to you, it's that you feel dumb almost all of the time - and it's generally not because of your coworkers, it's because the vast majority of experiments fail. There are rare feelings of success, and many moments of feeling that you are in a dark hole trying to climb out. To make significant headway you need a thick skin, and even then it can be extremely hard dealing with failure after failure. My unpopular opinion is that, given that there is currently not a shortage of scientists in the USA, it is not a travesty that many people who feel "dumb" in the early stages of learning science opt out of a scientific career that will only exacerbate these feelings, and thus save themselves considerable opportunity costs by seeking a profession that is easier on the ego.
I would agree, but only to the extent that our society doesn't value science enough to effectively use all the scientists we produce already. Rather, it values more business and pushing money around, of maybe building things.
If there was some kind of crisis (say cold war) and we needed new inventions to survive, things might be really different. But right now, we are just comfortable with the world as it is with not much demand for radical transformation.
