Dont get me wrong, there is plenty of scope for interesting / useful applications of software and pattern matching at scale but those are more a form of "tech a

Dont get me wrong, there is plenty of scope for interesting / useful applications of software and pattern matching at scale but those are more a form of "tech assisted social evolution" rather than the steady march of fundamental inventions and discoveries across the entire spectrum of knowledge that characterised the last few centuries. Old math can still have an impact at the margin (eg speeding up protein folding calculations etc) but its not the cognitive leap that would allow us to steer discoveries in more effective manner. Materials, medicine etc all very exciting and very active but also hampered by their intrinsic complexity.