Damn so it's basically luck...I mean even bitcoin was 10 years ago I think? Also nowadays you probably need to be a PHD to work on something really interesting.

Not necessarily luck. Just go to the professional forums of the people in those "cutting-edge to the masses" fields, and see what they're nerding out over as a "cool thing they'd like to get into when it gets a bit more mature."

(It works for programming languages, too. Hang out in a forum for a relatively-new language like, say, Elixir, and you'll hear gossip about a lot of languages whose communities would describe Elixir as a staid legacy language, that'd never merit a mention here.)

I don't see how you could actually come up with new stuff in PLT without a very heavy math background, specifically in logic. I mean it's not impossible just extremely unlikely.

New programming languages aren’t usually examples of novel advances in type theory. They’re usually just novel combinations of existing features. They’re still “bleeding edge” in the sense that they’re what the industry will be using in 20 years.

A lot of well-known, early programmers had PhD. Not all though.

Makes sense. But computers have a lot of interesting applications so maybe something will come out. For example gaming in the beginning, in 70s and 80s still attracted a lot of teenagers.

Maybe AR. I mean, look at Jeri Ellsworth, self taught and probably has the most plausibly commercial AR solution (Tilt Five) so far.

That's clever. Nobody can draw dark in AR, which means overlays on the world have to be too bright and shiny. Ellsworth came up with a use case where the AR images always have a grey background, the blank game board. So this is much more workable than the more elaborate AR schemes. Cheaper, too, at $299.

im just amazed that Jared Lanier has found new-founded relevance.

the first i read of him was ~1988 or so in Mondo 2000....

Now he is popping up all over...

PhDs are overrated

Especially on the lower barrier to entry areas.

Being able to learn things yourself, then learning on the job is more important.