I think part of the problem is information overload. There is such a ridiculous amount of content out there in the world that I admit I sometimes feel a very strong urge to shove my fingers in my ears, close my eyes and shout my truth into the void until everyone gets it...I can truly understand that. Reality is overwhelming in a world where anyone can tell me what reality is...

ok my solution is that educated people saw the government of their homecountry as dangerous(like hitlers government) and seeked for an exile. That's why i have well educated people on my island.

@Alucard It could be as simple as people being overwhelmed by the modern world and wanting to live a more pastoral life-style.

You will have to continuously import new smart people though. An island of smart people doesn't stay that smart without the infrastructure the modern metropolis can provide.

@James Or at least a way to import new fresh ideas. Smart people can pass on knowledge of how to think to a new generation born on the island, BUT with out new ideas you get stagnation, and eventually death.

@AndyD273 To a point I agree with you, but you can't pass on advanced medical technology/knowledge (as an example) without the system to support the resources needed.

Lets say that the rate of discovery of new ideas is 1:1000 per year. More during time of hardship when out of the box thinking is needed, or in nations where free thought is encouraged. On a small island nation of a couple thousand people the rate of increase of knowledge is going to be slow to stagnate. In a nation of tens or hundreds of millions, you have a lot more heads for a new idea to appear and hopefully not get wiped out by an anti-idea.

@James Sure, manufacturing and stuff like that is also very important

@AndyD273 Yep...now I am curious I want to go dig into technology levels for various US cities < 1000 residents. @Green you're the research guy, go figure that out.

well my island has a harbor, if that counts anything

i still not decided yet how far it is from mainland...

Out for the evening, have fun being weird everyone. :D

@James or they turn into a different kind of smart people.

@James im not sure that's an answerable question. How do you tease apart local tech levels (defined/discovered how?) from nation-wide tech levels?

The approximate tech levels in a modern US town are absurdly high because of all the imported technology. However, one could easily argue that the Cambridge, MA had way higher tech levels because of MIT alone.

Then there's the problem of legible knowledge like degrees or patents vs illegible knowledge like crazy good cooking or a green thumb or farming or blacksmithing.

Inhabitants stuck on an island will become highly optimized for those circumstances.

one would have to define the "techlevels"

And don't discount social pressures to create. Iceland is a tiny nation of between 300k to 400k people, with a language spoken by only a few more. Yet, Icelanders publish more books per person than anywhere else.

@Alucard also true.

@James done.