There’s now a staggering amount of relevant information young academics need to consume before embarking on significant careers. …
It’s an open question whether the extension of the human lifespan, and the growing preference of academics for remaining active past 65, plus new electronic tools and instruments, are winning the race against the need to acquiring the additional knowledge accumulated over the last hundred years.
Is the Expansion of Knowledge Endangering Genius?
by Edward Tenner
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/12/is-the-expansion-of-knowledge-endangering-genius/249735/
There’s good news and bad news in the latest research on aging and innovation in science, according to The Scientist, reporting on a recent paper by the economists Benjamin Jones and Bruce Weinberg.
So there’s hope for older researchers. But the mathematician Jordan Ellenberg presented, in Slate a few years ago, a disheartening side of productive maturity: progress of his discipline had lengthened the time needed to learn enough to make a significant original contribution:
It’s an open question whether the extension of the human lifespan, and the growing preference of academics for remaining active (often keeping full teaching loads) past 65, plus new electronic tools and instruments, are winning the race against the need to acquiring the additional knowledge accumulated over the last hundred years.
Benjamin Jones’ speculation is worth considering:
I continue to be skeptical about low-hanging-fruit theories. (My most recent thoughts on the issue are here.) But it’s intriguing to wonder whether the increase of knowledge, far from being a purely exponential process, might also have an element of negative feedback.