Growth is relentless. So a constant trend towards more and more specialization is inevitable. Scientists have to concentrate on a small part of the world’s knowledge if they want to have any hope of continuing to advance it.
There might be some light on the horizon, however. I predict that in the not too distant future, people in academic life are going to define themselves not by one specialty area, but by two sub-specialities that belong to two rather different main specialities. This means that we’ll have a web of interests, in which each person will serve as a bridge between different parts of the overall structure.
— Donald E. Knuth
Things A Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About
