MCP is just JSON rpc with one useful command (list-tools). Turns out that's probably all we ever needed.
I don't know about that. All the PhDs I know are dirt-poor (or were until they left science to get tech jobs), and are in the game because they are passionate about science and the project of advancing human knowledge.
It's true that your ability to get a tenure-track position is very dependent on your ability to successfully obtain grant money, but most of the scientists I know view that as a necessary evil, not the game in itself.
> The only useful science done at the moment is at tech companies who will use it to build better products.
This is trivially demonstrably false. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope for the first example that came to mind from recent news.