I've recently come across an interesting resource which I'd originally seen back in 2010:
Matt Might's "The illustrated guide to a Ph.D." describes a doctoral degree's proportional increase to humanity's overall knowledge base.
links -
1) Matt Might, 15 page PDF, archived on WayBackMachine, 2010 (images only)- https://web.archive.org/web/20100821045946/http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/IllustratedGuidePhD-Matt-Might.pdf
2) MattMight.Net website, PhD School In Pictures, archived on WayBackMachine, 2010 (my favorite) - https://web.archive.org/web/20100815122612/http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures
3) Open Culture, article, archived on WayBack Machine, 2012 (includes reader comments) - https://web.archive.org/web/20120927232652/https://www.openculture.com/2012/09/the_illustrated_guide_to_a_phd-redux.html
It seems that just as a doctorate may push at, and then break through, the boundary of human knowledge, thereby increasing the knowledge base, a patent (or a potentially patentable idea) similarly represents an increase in human knowledge, no matter how miniscule.
