This is simply historically false. From Galileo and copernicus to even the scientists positing germ theory in the 1800s, mavericks who fought against orthodoxy

This is simply historically false. From Galileo and copernicus to even the scientists positing germ theory in the 1800s, mavericks who fought against orthodoxy have been persecuted. Even today, in our colleges, "mavericks" are punished and attacked. Our most famous maverick, Socrates, was forced to commit suicide. It's true bill gates wouldn't have amounted to much had he been born in 1950s china because china was heavily undeveloped. But had he been born later in the 60s or 70s with china opening up, he could have been a Jack Ma.