> I would doubt Knuth would publish garbage Rather, Knuth could publish some mediocre paper that would be instantly accepted by all the top journals, widely re

> I would doubt Knuth would publish garbage Rather, Knuth could publish some mediocre paper that would be instantly accepted by all the top journals, widely read, discussed and cited instead of more salient works on similar topics. That's the problem really, excellence is rare while mediocrity is aplenty and academia is a numbers game. The mediocres with prodigious output will get the cites, tenure, TAs, lab assistants and budgets to do research and perhaps stumble onto some other mediocre result, reinforcing the cycle.