Buckminster Fuller, the late scientist and philosopher, in his book from 1969, Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, put forth a brilliant thesis for the origin of specialization. He credited this phenomenon to the first pirate-merchants of ages past, the equivalent of the scientists and economic heads of our time. The pirate-merchants, Fuller said, were the first to apply pressure on local socio-political leaders, whom they supplied with much desired merchandise from far away places, in order to instill the idea of specialization as a method of limiting education. This was done so that it would be difficult for anyone to attain the vast range of knowledge which the pirate-merchants themselves had gained.

In pondering at the state of our own educational systems today, it is disturbingly clear how specialization has contributed to hindering individual creative thought; the fundamental basis for scientific research and discovery. How many times do we hear criticism of innovative thinkers, due to their lack of specialized education? This competitive spirit is apparently encouraged by the merchant masters of our own civilization today, in the hopes that we not notice the course they've charted to enslaving all of humanity, mind and body, through what has become our culture's primary driving force, mass consumerism. The sciences, part and parcel of the education system the merchant masters have constructed for this purpose, have unwittingly played into the hands of this great deception.

This competitive spirit, fueled by a misconstrued priority attributed to specialization, is perhaps a primary obstacle to advancing scientific discovery in our time. The human mind itself, is a vast and endless reservoir of comprehension, which extends far beyond acquired knowledge. Decades of specialized studies cannot compete with the simple ability to comprehend the general thrust of any idea or theory in the sciences. If we are to advance our understanding and discovery of the how our universe functions and how it came into being, we must first bring this competitive spirit into check. We must learn to become more attentive of the essential ideas which are being put forth. The debatable details of any theory in the making, important as they may be, should be dwarfed when considering the thrust of the idea and the overall merit it may, or may not, hold.

It is imperative that we encourage creative thinking, support bold and fearless presentation of new ideas, though they may rub the grain of convention - and most of all, to understand that discovery is an ongoing process and that the achievements of our predecessors are building blocks, upon which more blocks need to be placed in order to arrive at a complete structure.

Can we truly climb upwards upon the ladder of discovery, if we are to continue clinging to the rungs which we stand on today?