Or just a lot more people going into science than would have before, thus getting a lot of the less-brilliant in the job? That’s the obvious one that springs to mind. Particularly post-1945, when the demonstration of the power of technical superiority in World War II and fighting the Cold War really opened the gushers of science funding.
That would be a variant on ‘government poisoning academia’, I suppose. Counter-arguments would be the Flynn effect (more brilliant people), increase in prestige of sciences versus humanities (bigger share of brilliant people), and existence of a decline prior to 1945.
Or just a lot more people going into science than would have before, thus getting a lot of the less-brilliant in the job? That’s the obvious one that springs to mind. Particularly post-1945, when the demonstration of the power of technical superiority in World War II and fighting the Cold War really opened the gushers of science funding.
That would be a variant on ‘government poisoning academia’, I suppose. Counter-arguments would be the Flynn effect (more brilliant people), increase in prestige of sciences versus humanities (bigger share of brilliant people), and existence of a decline prior to 1945.