>Science, by comparison, is young. The age of literature makes it static; there is no hurry to participate. I can pursue literature leisurely (and with very l

>Science, by comparison, is young. The age of literature makes it static; there is no hurry to participate. I can pursue literature leisurely (and with very little financial investment) over the course of my lifetime. Science, on the other hand, is more dynamic; if you want to contribute to the cutting edge you will likely need credentials to access the resources to do so. A degree in the sciences opens doors in ways that the humanities do not: the great works of literature are available to anyone at my local library, but only a very small group of experts gets to test their theories on the Large Hadron Collider. Studying the humanities in college therefore has a significant opportunity cost, to say nothing of the cost of tuition. Computer science is a prominent exception, though. There is much more acceptance in that discipline for self-taught experts.