Stephen Jay Gould said: "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
This quote really drives home the point that the overwhelmingly vast majority of scientific discovery and progress throughout history has come with humanity's entirely self-inflicted handicapping, like a V8 engine running on only 1 cylinder. Can't help but wonder what our knowledge here in 2025 would be like had we, as a species, tapped into our full potential by empowering women and people of color (to name just a few categories) earlier. You can almost see it in action with the people mentioned here as time went on.
This quote really drives home the point that the overwhelmingly vast majority of scientific discovery and progress throughout history has come with humanity's entirely self-inflicted handicapping, like a V8 engine running on only 1 cylinder. Can't help but wonder what our knowledge here in 2025 would be like had we, as a species, tapped into our full potential by empowering women and people of color (to name just a few categories) earlier. You can almost see it in action with the people mentioned here as time went on.
Wonderful set of videos.