I don't have the requisite knowledge to comment on fields other than the life sciences, and I certainly agree with your point that every new scientific and tech

I don't have the requisite knowledge to comment on fields other than the life sciences, and I certainly agree with your point that every new scientific and technological advance necessarily has to be more sophisticated than the one(s) that it's built upon. But the notion that the past was chock-full of low-hanging fruit just waiting to be picked seems exaggerated and doesn't give enough credit to the people who did all that work that, in hindsight, looks easy, trivial, and obvious, but at the time certainly required significant insights, advances, and effort. John LaMattina, former president of R&D at Pfizer, weighs in: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2012/03/02/there-has-never-really-been-low-hanging-fruit-in-pharma-rd/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnlamattina/2012/03/02/there-h...