[1MoreThing]

Is it productivity, or is the work to mine new "knowledge coins" just harder now that we've done some of the easier work?

[xyzzyz]

By falling productivity, I simply mean that the same amount of funding results in fewer, less valuable and less useful results. Whether it’s caused by research itself becoming progressively more difficult, or some kind of fundamental dysfunction within science, I cannot accurately determine: I think it’s both at least to some degree. I think it’s reasonable to expect that keeping pace of results requires growth in spending, in general.

[chordalkeyboard]

That is an excellent question that also strikes to the heart of how we measure "productivity."