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It isn't actually difficult to stay reasonably abreast of various subjects. It IS difficult to stay so well informed as to remain useful, but that's something else. Becoming specialized is a necessity for the average scientist, but remaining uninformed about other advances, how they relate to your field and how your own research can potentially relate to them is most likely just laziness. Personally I can't imagine Not staying informed. The whole reason I got into academics was because I liked learning about the world, not because I liked sacrificing my sanity working on the same group of problems my whole life.

But to each their own, or whatnot.