> The whole point of this thread is that science often advances in parallel with no communication between scientists.
I can only suppose that you are taking 'communication' to mean only direct communication via face-to face conversation or the exchange of letters, but communication is a transitive operation, and, in fact, your thesis is tacitly predicated on this leading to the dissemination of knowledge. The more I learn about the actual history of science (as opposed to 'scientific genius' hagiography) the clearer this becomes.
If you are looking for an economic perspective on this, the emergence of the infrastructure of academic publication would be a good place to start.
I can only suppose that you are taking 'communication' to mean only direct communication via face-to face conversation or the exchange of letters, but communication is a transitive operation, and, in fact, your thesis is tacitly predicated on this leading to the dissemination of knowledge. The more I learn about the actual history of science (as opposed to 'scientific genius' hagiography) the clearer this becomes.
If you are looking for an economic perspective on this, the emergence of the infrastructure of academic publication would be a good place to start.