Yes, we have lost something .... (Score 2)

The greatest thinkers of the 20th century were all from the 1st half of the century - Einstein, Bohr, Turing, Godel, Wittgenstein, Ramanujan. There were many more educated people in the 2nd half who were better fed, had better health care and more opportunities and freedom to do whatever they wanted to, yet I can't think of one who has the stature of any of the six mentioned. (Feynman? Hawkings? .... no ) Why is that so? Is it because all the really big, tough problems and ideas have been figured out or is that all those people who could potentially provide mankind with the profoundest insights have been distracted by the intrusion of popular and commercial culture? Surely there must be some pretty awesome minds among the billions of people around today. Could it be that they are all busy writing software, designing microprocessors, identifying and patenting genes and looking out for stock options to be bothered about tensor geometry, number theory and epistemology? Have the cultural conditions that nurtured Einstein and Godel disappeared forever?