There is a famous line which I wish I knew who said that to paraphrase becomes: “In science we stand on the shoulders of the great people that came before us, but in computer science we try to step on their toes.”

Brian Reid's gloss on Isaac Newton: http://www.anvari.org/fortune/Miscellaneous_Collections/131870_in-computer-science-we-stand-on-each-others-feet-brian-k.html