This is true, but misses the important part that they (the older set) are often correct. For every new idea that really changes everything there are a huge nu

This is true, but misses the important part that they (the older set) are often correct. For every new idea that really changes everything there are a huge number that die on the vine or just become a ho-hum tool in a big toolbox. Most new ideas are less interesting and impactful than they seem when you are in the middle of their creation. You never really get to see what's happening until much much later. A variant of all this is that you should trust the old guard when they tell you something can be done, but not when they tell you it can't. There is a good quote about that I've forgotten. The corollary is that you shouldn't really trust the young turks on anything, but you should support their efforts and test the results. It's very human to see yourself as Planck in the early 1900s not Wolfram in the early 2000s.