My brother who is a car mechanic is more useful to society than me, a neuroscience PhD or in fact most scientists in general.
Those who get angry at this have turned their intelligence into a false idol. Elitism is the last thread they hold to justify their wasted time and money.

Giving your 20s to study the stochastic behaviour of a random protein on a cell receptor...yeah admitting to the ridiculousness of that is far less comfortable than lying to yourself about a grand narrative about being a “puzzle piece” for the science gods.

The most useful thing I do for society is teach 18yos how not to fall into the bs of the academic system, while teaching them physiology of course :3 volunteering and illustrating children’s books. I do science because I want to teach but not in a public school.