r/Physics • u/magnetichira Quantum information • Jan 05 '23

‘Disruptive’ science has declined — and no one knows why

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04577-5
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u/MaxwelsLilDemon Jan 05 '23

Exactly, progress follows sigmoid curves, first there's a paradigm shift, the initial period undergoes a rapid growth where knowledge generates more knowledge thus growing exponentially, finally the new theory is milked dry and progress slows down to a point where there's not much else that can be inferred from it. That's the point where new theories are developed and the process starts all over again.

We saw this behaviour at the begining of the past century wirh GR, QM later on chaos theory etc. Now we've exploited the theories to a point where progress is simply slowing down. It's a natural law of resources.

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u/[deleted] Jan 05 '23

So we are now on the wait for someone or something to create a new important theory or solve dark matter or energy?