Not to mention the effects of much larger populations bringing more minds to bear on complex problems. Of course, it's a mixed bag; the rate of total knowledge growth has also made the polymath a thing of the past because it's simply not possible for anyone to know everything about everything when comprehensive knowledge of many specialized fields require a lifetime of learning. Naturally, this only underscores the importance of preserving that knowledge base in a durable and easily accessible form; if the loss of the Great Library set human knowledge back centuries, what would the loss of contemporary knowledge do...?