I’m writing a longer piece right now — on another ‘basic conditions’ subject — but this morning saw and read the article linked below and written by Dr. Matthew Crawford (physicist, etc.) that is entirely worth reading by more people, and wanted to help make more certain that it is.
Dr. Crawford provides an extremely accurate description of Big Science and its highly frequent circular argument, closed-system departures from the open-system scientific process, rightly-understood. There are indeed 'bad guys' working in the scientific fields, but they are not who people all too commonly think they are: https://unherd.com/2021/05/how-science-has-been-corrupted/
My own experience in this subject has convinced me that the currently 'developmentally-delayed' nature of modern mineral exploration science is largely the result of exactly what Matthew Crawford, the author, is describing.
Thank you for sharing this essay. Gave voice to many of my thoughts and concerns.