“Are new fields getting harder to find?” I think this is the trillion-dollar question! I don’t have an answer yet though.
Is progress open indefinitely? I think there is probably at least a theoretic end to progress, but it’s so unimaginably far away that for our purposes today we should consider progress as potentially infinite. There are still an enormous number of things to learn and invent.
Quick thought here Jack and Jason (caveat—haven’t thought about this much at all!).
Yes, the creation of new fields is important. However, even if there are diminishing returns to new fields (sidenote—I’ve been thinking about ways to try and measure this empirically), what’s more important is the applicability of the new field to existing fields.
For example, even if we only create one new field but that field could be incredibly powerful. For example, APM (atomically precise manufacturing), or an AGI of some sorts, then it will have major ramifications on progress across all fields.
However, if we created a lot of new insignificant fields, then even if we create hundreds of them, progress won’t be substantially improved across other domains.
I guess what I’m trying to say is the emphasis is not just on new fields per se.
“Are new fields getting harder to find?” I think this is the trillion-dollar question! I don’t have an answer yet though.
Is progress open indefinitely? I think there is probably at least a theoretic end to progress, but it’s so unimaginably far away that for our purposes today we should consider progress as potentially infinite. There are still an enormous number of things to learn and invent.
Quick thought here Jack and Jason (caveat—haven’t thought about this much at all!).
Yes, the creation of new fields is important. However, even if there are diminishing returns to new fields (sidenote—I’ve been thinking about ways to try and measure this empirically), what’s more important is the applicability of the new field to existing fields.
For example, even if we only create one new field but that field could be incredibly powerful. For example, APM (atomically precise manufacturing), or an AGI of some sorts, then it will have major ramifications on progress across all fields.
However, if we created a lot of new insignificant fields, then even if we create hundreds of them, progress won’t be substantially improved across other domains.
I guess what I’m trying to say is the emphasis is not just on new fields per se.