Will the rate of innovations slow down as our knowledge expands ?
Innovations are events that expand the boundaries of existing knowledge. Knowledge is ever expanding; to add to the body of knowledge a scientist will have to cover/master the existing body and only then can add to the frontier.
Think about knowledge as a circle; we all start from the center and then expand on the boundaries. With the radius of this circle ever expanding, it means the researcher will have to cover a lot of ground before he can add to the frontier.
One way to fast track innovation, is to be specific so that you work on a narrow wedge of the pie. That is, he needs to specialize in a narrow field very early on in the career.
Does our education system/society provide enough information to the researcher to make that choice at that stage?
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