I don't understand how you can equate the two and reconcile the past. The individuals who have pushed society forward in this domain or that scarcely, if ever,

I don't understand how you can equate the two and reconcile the past. The individuals who have pushed society forward in this domain or that scarcely, if ever, had any particular knowledge edge. Cases like Ramanujan [1] exemplify such to the point of absurdity. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan