I upvoted this post as strongly as I could with my Karma, and I’m putting this comment here to reinforce: this is a great question, and I learned some things about the 19th century from it.
I would love to see more things on Less Wrong on the topics of:
Intellectual progress, and what are the necessary and sufficient conditions for its occurrence.
If past eras were more intellectually productive, either overall or per capita.
I upvoted this post as strongly as I could with my Karma, and I’m putting this comment here to reinforce: this is a great question, and I learned some things about the 19th century from it.
I would love to see more things on Less Wrong on the topics of:
Intellectual progress, and what are the necessary and sufficient conditions for its occurrence.
If past eras were more intellectually productive, either overall or per capita.