150 years ago, 90% of the planet were aboriginals or peasants, 9.9% were workers of some kind, 0.1% were rulers/nobility who were the class that needed to suppo

150 years ago, 90% of the planet were aboriginals or peasants, 9.9% were workers of some kind, 0.1% were rulers/nobility who were the class that needed to support these ideas, and there were just extremely few people dedicated to knowledge and science. Rich dudes, their patrons, sitting around pondering the meaning of life. There was a lot to be discovered and so few people trying to figure it out. Now we have millions of PhD's studying every little nook and cranny, the vast majority of research ever published will be read by only a small number of people and then forgotten, maybe forever. The marginal returns to effort now are extremely small.