[gunfighthacksaw]

If you know the future, play the lottery, or even better, form a startup :)

Otherwise, it’s a similar problem to being on eg the cutting edge of music. You either consume everything you can until you can make judgements on what will stick or not, or you create things yourself and try your hardest to make them the next thing.

Luckily, in our industry, you can also:

- know the fundamentals of math/science/technology: there is never truly anything new, there are always rehashes of something else

- be smart enough to absorb radical new theories: self explanatory, better learners can get a grasp of the content more effectively

- socially positioned enough to delegate what you don’t understand: if formally verified quantum blockchain on tensor cores (or whatever) doesn’t resonate with you, but you think it could be useful later, get a younger/brighter person to do what you won’t or can’t. You might reap major rewards from having a protege in the space, and if you don’t, then you helped the next gen learn something new, so feel good about that.