There’s this phenomenon that I’m shocked more people aren’t talking about. Specialization is increasingly harder with every bit of progress we make.

We as humans are constrained by how much we can learn and retain in our lifespan, while the universe is not constrained in the amount of information it contains. Our natural constraint is even smaller if you consider how much time we need to explore after learning in order to discover something new.

We’re approaching the point where there is just too much we need to know, even to reach a functional level of proficiency in the workplace. The knowledge needed to enter the work force in a technical field 50 years ago is merely a subset of the knowledge expected now. But at some point, we will reach a point where four years is simply not enough time to learn everything we need to know to work or, even harder, make progress/discoveries/push the boundaries. The continuous expansion of our “knowledge circles” is pushing the edge of the unknown further and further out of our reach.

So how can we continue to innovate as a society and as individuals?

  1. Focus attention on currently small knowledge circles - field intersections and recently developed fields.

I think the secret to being valuable/novel in the future is to seek areas where those knowledge circles are still small - like at the intersection of fields or recently developed fields. That’s where we are more likely to discover something new. (Side note - I also think that’s where we’re most likely to find solutions to problems we’re facing now, like climate change. I think holistic/multifaceted solutions are required for these multifaceted problems.)

  1. Systemic restructuring of the education system to align with how we actually learn.

I think we could expand the amount the average person learns by implementing researched and tested teaching/learning methods. The science of learning is a pretty well researched topic, with lots of replicable and properly conducted research studies on what makes us actually learn. Students could learn so much more (and more thoroughly) if teachers implemented the practices of interleaving, spaced repetition, desirable difficulty, etc. There are many wonderful teachers out there, but a large part of our educational system was built on fairly outdated or unproven notions. (If you want to learn more about how we learn best, I highly recommend “Make it Stick” by Brown, Roediger III, and McDaniel.)

  1. Use AI to reduce what we individually need to know.

AI is reducing the amount we need to know - we’re increasingly relying on it to do the heavy lifting of the basics (not basics like critical thinking or clear writing, but the rote stuff like syntax differences between coding languages). I think it’s worth noting that this is not the first time a new technology has consolidated required knowledge (we don’t need to know how to sew, farm, build a house, etc for ourselves anymore). If we learn how to properly use AI to do the rote tasks/learning, that can and will free us up to do the harder parts like innovation and discovery.