Although your assertion is mathematically sound, do account for the fact that Da Vinci devoted his entire life to learning. And interdisciplinary learning at th

Although your assertion is mathematically sound, do account for the fact that Da Vinci devoted his entire life to learning. And interdisciplinary learning at that! While I won't argue that the sheer volume of knowledge swirling today is exponentially greater than 500 years ago, its also very true that the type of education Da Vinci received, mentor-disciple, is almost non-existant today. The kind of personality he had, free-flowing (procrastinating and whimsical) and curious, is not suited to the current society's reward structure; in fact, its discourage by all but the very best of the schools. Sure, Da Vinci didn't have to learn calculus, but just how do you explain the amount of detail his work shows? He conceptualized SCUBA generations ago. In his design for underwater breathing apparatus, Da Vinci, was very particular about the details. Details that people today use computer simulations to figure out, when not the experience itself. And finally, Leonardo may have had less to learn because everything was as intuitive as the physical world, but the situation today is not so different. We are now closer to first principles than ever. Tomorrow's Da Vinci won't solve puzzles, he will build them.