Individual as opposed to groups.
A science is the work of many individuals, each working independently. Hopefully there would be a free interchange of ideas but progress can occur even when this is absent. For example, Edison and Tesla were notorious enemies and yet the electricity in our homes depends heavily on both of their discoveries (Edison for the lights and motors and Tesla for the generators and transmission system).
Progress does not come from committees. Ideas, inventions, techniques, and discoveries do indeed originate from singular and individual sources. I have been on software design committees that achieved less than any of the individual members could have done alone. But this does not mean that everything comes from one single source. -Anonymous
