This is important: if you carry a cell phone in your pocket, then everyday you are using a device with integrated circuits, which were designed using QFT, and GPS, which requires general relativity. These aren’t weird esoteric theories in need of alternatives, they are part of everyday human experience.
This is less important. I once gave a talk at a math conference on a subject of purely personal interest, that was half speculation, and no one complained. This morning one prof compared string theory to epicycles, and he hasn’t been fired yet. Yesterday in Physics lab we were told to explore solutions to a quantum system, with no grading or guidance, just see what we could find if we change this or that. Again this morning, a prof describing an upcoming quiz: “it’s going to be to make sure you understand the concepts, there aren’t going to be any lengthy calculations.”
When I was in engineering, almost every class had a sheet of equations in tests because you weren’t expected to memorize them, only how to use them. This is less the case in grad school, but look, by then you’ve learned the math language and are filling in the concepts.
I’ve also dropped out of a PhD program before when I decided it wasn’t everything I wanted, but much of what you’ve claimed about scientific culture and pedagogy is strawman caricature.
