Watching some new TV show about what we know about the universe, and it got me thinking: the more we know about science, the longer it takes each new person to go to school and re-learn the the things that humanity has already discovered before he can go off and add something new to the pile. It is possible that one day we will have accumulated so much knowledge that individual people can no longer learn enough in there lifetime before making their own contribution?
If such a horizon exists, it is probably far in the future, because of the enormous disparity between how long it takes to discover something, and how long it takes to learn it with the right teaching aids (e.g. how many PHD-hours did it take for general relativity vs how long for a student to learn it, especially since all students can learn in parallel?
One obvious solution that we already employ is specialization. Neurosurgeon vs denstist, etc.
Also, my premise could be wrong.
Also, advances in medical technology could result in us living longer, sufficient enough to keep pace with our own body of knowledge.
It might make an interesting Sci Fi plot though.
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