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Re:Xerox PARC Special by esafak on Thursday July 27, 2023 @03:45PM (#36899112)
Sure. A lot of mathematics is out there; e.g., Shinichi Mochizuki's work on the abc conjecture is so far out other mathematicians can't evaluate it.

Think of fields or problems only a handful of people are working on. Usually because it is viewed as fruitless. Then somebody cracks it and sometimes a use is found for it. The rest is labeled "useless research".

Re:Xerox PARC Special by AlbertCory on Thursday July 27, 2023 @04:07PM (#36899411)
So that's one example.

The test would be: not only was there no precedent or suggestion for it, but it turned out to be epochal.