The rate of discovery in physics is pretty slow over the years - since it's a pretty old science (I'm being very broad)
I think we have a skewed view of physics research because many discoveries were simply done by sharing between fields and generally global instantaneous communication/universal access to information - before we had the phone or the internet, good luck learning about as many things as you could in the 60's - or today!
The last century was kind of science on steroids, since for the first time in history everyone could connect many others ideas - everyone suddenly was standing on the shoulders of all the giants the wanted. But at some point, we'll have went through everything there is to see up there, and we'll need to go down, and look for new heights.
It's entirely possible that we've ran through the " low hanging fruit" of physics discoveries, as there are virtually no barriers between individuals and information since a good two decade I'd say, and sharing globally for about 100 years.
Maybe sharing and learning from one another is not fertile anymore, and we need to support smaller quirkier experiments and fundamental research to discover more tidbits to connect and make new discoveries.
I think we have a skewed view of physics research because many discoveries were simply done by sharing between fields and generally global instantaneous communication/universal access to information - before we had the phone or the internet, good luck learning about as many things as you could in the 60's - or today!
The last century was kind of science on steroids, since for the first time in history everyone could connect many others ideas - everyone suddenly was standing on the shoulders of all the giants the wanted. But at some point, we'll have went through everything there is to see up there, and we'll need to go down, and look for new heights.
It's entirely possible that we've ran through the " low hanging fruit" of physics discoveries, as there are virtually no barriers between individuals and information since a good two decade I'd say, and sharing globally for about 100 years.
Maybe sharing and learning from one another is not fertile anymore, and we need to support smaller quirkier experiments and fundamental research to discover more tidbits to connect and make new discoveries.