I think there is a very large difference (in ability to contribute to science and barrier to entry) between roughly three groups of people who once had academic

I think there is a very large difference (in ability to contribute to science and barrier to entry) between roughly three groups of people who once had academic background. The first are industry R&D staff (like me) -- usually we _do_ keep at the forefront of research but aren't allowed to give much time to anything that isn't going to sell in three years and have limited avenues to publish (usually patents, but patents cost money and unlike scientists we have zero incentive to make them readable). Those people technically do contribute to science but their contributions have very reduced public impact compared to what academia gets, and that's a shame. The second are people in support roles in either industry or academia that still work directly with science and scientists -- lab technicians, patent examiners and patent attorneys, staff writers at journals, grant writers/reviewers and program managers, most admin staff at science organizations, etc. Those people have easy avenues to learn about science and usually are very knowledgeable in at least one subfield, but they are not given any time or platform to contribute their own thoughts and sometimes their background is insufficiently technical for original contributions. There is also something to gain from them in citizen science initiatives though, they know what the problems are and what is being done to address them. Then you have the people profiled in the article -- non-scientists of varied backgrounds that have worked in 100% non science occupation (or raised children) since grad school (IF they went to grad school). Those people may or may not have the background but they almost invariably have no good access to papers, no knowledge of modern working methods and quality standards and (most important) no community of like minded scientists to exchange ideas with and accept feedback from. And if they stay isolated, they are not going to be useful and would mostly benefit from an internship or something to learn what the field is actually about.