Agreed, but also internet basically gave everyone a megaphone, so that they can shout their mediocre achievements.
The world has also become more top heavy than a few decades ago. Competition for the top x% of a field has likely become fiercer as the alternative has become less self-sustaining.
There is nothing wrong with being mediocre.
There is also nothing good with being mediocre.
It's almost as if being mediocre is fairly mediocre
There's a lot of good with being mediocre. normalcy, so long as you're not in some sort of barbarian culture. is a net positive.
I excel at mediocrity.
Just compare Bardeen to Shockley.
Yep. Newton tried to discredit Leibniz for example even though Leibniz was the first to publish calculus: