Not long ago, I had the privilege of meeting someone online who was actively seeking entrance to a Think Tank.
Although he did not have academic credentials, he had a vast amount of real-world experience, know-how and a good many years of wisdom.
I had asked him what his expertise was in and he stated: Physics, Philosophy, Theology, and Trends and Analysis.
Well, it sounds as if he has no boundaries to his mind, which is very good for solving problems, perhaps a perfect gentleman for a Think Tank and yet, still, the disqualifier for most think tanks would be the fact that he has no academic background.
Now then, who is to say that only academics can solve problems? If most of the solutions provided to this point in our societies and civilizations have come from academia, then well, we must realize that most of the problems we have are also from the same.
This gentleman however is qualified and he is well versed from technical to intuitive and back around again, thus, able to check his own theories, not a bad way to do things.
Yes it sometimes is rather amazing that academia gets themselves all backed into a corner preventing their creative genius from actually winning.
Instead their best laid plans are handed to Murphy and the law of unintended consequences.
Perhaps too much education stops the eminent achiever in them? It's unfortunate indeed.
Well, I had to leave school to run my company so, I have often pondered this myself.
Some of the greatest discoveries have been made by those who did not have years of higher education actually and many of those who have shaped all we are and all we've built and shattered the theories of days gone by have been outside the establishment of academia, maybe that is why they dared to ask the question and then duly seek the answers?