[dmurray]

That seems like the wrong question to ask. After all, there's no shortage of people who are unfamiliar with Yao's conjecture.

Or alternatively, even the most well-read person is not au fait with the state of the art in almost all subjects, so they have a chance to make an accidental discovery there.

But this kid wasn't an outsider: he was already studying computer science at perhaps the most rigorous and prestigious institution in the world, and it's not a coincidence that he made this discovery rather than an equally talented twenty-year-old who works in a diamond mine in Botswana. There's no risk that we'll reduce the number of accidental discoveries by educating people too much.