In Taylor's essay, why do you think Einstein favors imagination over knowledge?

"...I sometimes feel I am right but do not know it.  When two expeditions of scientists went to test my theory I was convinced they would confirm my theory.  I wasn't surprised when the results confirmed my intuition, but I would have been surprised had I been wrong.  I'm enough of an artist to draw freely on my imagination, which I think is more important than knowledge.  Knowledge is limited .  Imagination encircles the world."


I think Taylor highlights this predisposition of Einstein to favor imagination when she discusses the K/I (knowledge to imagination ratio) ratio, and the cultural characteristics of it.  The K/I ratio is time dependent, and culturally dependent.  For example, she sites Thomas Kuhn's paradigm shift as a catalyst for the imaginative heavy side of the K/I ratio.  When a theory, invention, or new artform is in its infancy, with the minority at its back, imagination is favored by the producers, because "common knowledge" is not yet "on board" with the revolution, or the shift.

While it makes perfect sense to attribute the accolades to imagination, as Einstein does, I would say that the intuition required to make such a leap forward was mere caused by a massive collaboration of knowledge, and the analytical ability to see the connections that very few could see before.  Call this intuition, creativity, or some other cognitive characteristic, but this "imaginative" ability to conceive what others could not can most likely be found on a rock solid foundation of amassed knowledge.