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Is the Era of Groundbreaking Science Over?
An anonymous reader writes "In decades and centuries past, scientific genius was easy to quantify. Those scientists who were able to throw off the yoke of established knowledge and break new ground on their own are revered and respected. But as humanity, as a species, has gotten better at science, and the basics of most fields have been refined over and over, it's become much harder for any one scientist to make a mark on the field. There's still plenty we don't know, but so much of it is highly specialized that many breakthroughs are understood by only a handful. Even now, the latest generation is more likely to be familiar with the great popularizers of science, like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, and Carl Sagan, than of the researchers at the forefront of any particular field. "...most scientific fields aren't in the type of crisis that would enable paradigm shifts, according to Thomas Kuhn's classic view of scientific revolutions. Simonton argues that instead of finding big new ideas, scientists currently work on the details in increasingly specialized and precise ways." Will we ever again see a scientist get recognition like Einstein did?"
Yeah. And the reason why there is a declining number of blacks seen in science and math, that's just because white boys enjoy that kind of work/challenge. Why is thinking that there is a fundamental difference between the colors and that they are better suited for different hobbies/challenges/activities so wrong? Why do we push for equality for equality's sake? It doesn't mean that black mathematicians are stupider or worse than whites, it just means they think differently.
Or, you know ... it might, just might, be due to something else. But let's just accept that it's innate, because hey, vive la difference, right?