发表机构
University of Chicago; Santa Fe Institute（芝加哥大学; 圣塔菲研究所）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。AI 中文总结
该研究用持续同调检测高维知识嵌入中的不同阶空白，发现填补预期空白的研究者更易获关注，高阶空白随知识增长激增而科学填补比例下降，呼吁发展空白科学并探索AI填补高维间隙的前沿。
AI 中文摘要
许多科学发现涉及填补思想和论点之间的空白，从而推动科技进步。我们将知识表示为高维概念嵌入，使用持续同调（persistent homology）检测不同阶数的空白，从离散思想间的间隙到高阶空腔，并识别填补这些空白的研究工作。我们发现两种经验不对称性：填补预期空白的研究者有望通过展现超常的新颖性和远见吸引集体关注，这表明填补空白能预判科学的融合方向，在实证领域表现最强，在形式和设计领域表现最弱；但随着知识增长，高阶空白数量激增，科学填补的比例却下降，导致大多数高阶组合未被探索。这些结果呼吁建立更丰富的空白科学，并标志着当代人工智能可能帮助填补人类科学所开辟的高维间隙的前沿领域。
英文摘要
Much scientific discovery involves filling holes between ideas and arguments that unleash techno-scientific advance. Representing knowledge as high-dimensional concept embeddings, we use persistent homology to detect holes of increasing order, from gaps between disconnected ideas to higher-order cavities, and identify the research works that fill them. We find two empirical asymmetries. Researchers who fill anticipated holes are poised to draw collective attention by staging outsized novelty and foresight, indicating that bridging holes anticipates where science will converge, most strongly in empirical fields and least in formal and design fields. Yet as knowledge grows, higher-order holes explode while the fraction science fills collapses, leaving most higher-order combinations unexplored. These results call for a richer science of holes, and mark a frontier where contemporary AI might help fill the high-dimensional gaps human science opens.
Comments25 pages of main text, 140 with all the supplemental. 4 main figures, many more in the supplement
