He pretty much agrees with this and his solution is for people to learn it all.
I thought 't Hooft was saying you have to learn all of this stuff. But it sounds like you're saying you can do good work in physics without some of this information. Is that true? What can you dispense with?
No. I wasn't trying to say that. He is right that there is a lot to know to make any contribution to physics. I was trying to make a more general comment that people shouldn't be afraid to try something even if they don't know all the background. Make mistakes and learn as you go. That applies more to "easy" things like software.
I thought 't Hooft was saying you have to learn all of this stuff. But it sounds like you're saying you can do good work in physics without some of this information. Is that true? What can you dispense with?