I always found that a "memorization race" is table stakes. Without going through that first, there is no way you can participate meaningfully at the higher leve

I always found that a "memorization race" is table stakes. Without going through that first, there is no way you can participate meaningfully at the higher levels. And this is true even in cases where most of the actual research is done by computers/algorithms. Being able to quickly identify impossibilities or how to solve parts of the problem, because you effectively memorized thousands of pages of maths theory is invaluable and irreplaceable.