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TAOCP is a very thorough "text book" for people who really are interested in the subject matter. It's not really Knuth's goal to break new ground with it, but to compile the most interesting things he's found into a single work.

It's hardly the only thing he's done though. Even without TAOCP, he's one of the more prolific and accomplished computer scientists in history: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/vita.html

If you try to be creative, you'll end up with nothing but emperor-has-no-clothes modern art (which won't get you very far in computing). But if you do quality work, you may well get creativity thrown in as a bonus.

People try to be creative all the time in startups and games. And it can be quite profitable too.

As for computing in academia, it's not set in stone. CS can be expanded or a new field created to reward creativity.

> emperor-has-no-clothes modern art

I admit I have a hard time "getting" most modern art. But seeing the actual pieces in person, especially some Picasso and Pollock, is quite a different experience than seeing dinky little prints in an art book.

Jackson Pollock's paintings really stand out in a modern art gallery as being way too pretty to be there.