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Physical sciences have the benefit of being pitted against reality. A physicist a generation ahead of his time can make predictions about reality which will pro

• whatshisface 8y ago
  >A literary critic who truly understands more than everyone would have no recognition to show for it if everyone else were simply incapable of understanding it. A successful critic isn't a critic, they're an author that writes for whoever is making them successful. So the critic at the top of academia would be the best at writing criticims that people understood: no garuntee of understanding the most, but that's still a skill that, say, Feynman would find it hard to replicate. The heirarchal nature of almost everything garuntees that there will always be "the best," and that they will be hard to beat, regardless of how much it means in the grand scheme of things. Finally, the scarcity of grant money means that participating in any field means beating the best: a regulatory effect that's at the center of the discussion.