I think Einstein had a particularly unique way of thinking. In fact, he discovered relativity by doing thought experiments, purely by combining his intuitive un

I think Einstein had a particularly unique way of thinking. In fact, he discovered relativity by doing thought experiments, purely by combining his intuitive understanding of light with imagination. Such experiments can only really be conceived in a singular mind. Individuals matter. Maybe we'd have had to go another few hundred years before someone else conceived it. While we can't prove a negative (we don't know what the alternate Einstein-less universe turns out like), certainly there have been examples of technology that has been forgotten or lost and it can take another thousand years before it is rediscovered.