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human
Is it becoming longer and harder to get a PhD?

As I understand it, to earn a PhD you must complete original research that contributes new knowledge to the field. Over time, does completing a PhD become longer and harder as original ideas are taken, particularly outside of STEM?
gpt
>Is it becoming longer and harder to get a PhD?

It does depend on field and country obviously, but I'll say from the UK Astro POV: no. 

We're still limited to 3-4 years and we still get it done in that time, but the approach to the PhD seems pretty different here compared to the US. 

The time limit is enforced first, which means committees have to prioritise good science over good results. You can do amazing research and end up with unimpressive or "null" results. If your research idea was a good one and you did good research, then the supervisor takes a bit of the heat for directing you on an "unsuccessful" project and the rest is chalked up to bad luck. Unfortunately, the Universe is under no obligation to make sense to us or to act the way we expect it to. A really promising line of enquiry can completely fall on its face. If it happens early then you can change direction, but if it happens late, they take bad luck into account. 

I think in the US the priority is on having definitive positive/negative results, and you graduate when you have enough results that are impressive enough, which could be 3 years or 7. In that case it might be getting harder to get those original (non-null) results.

Our PhDs *have* become a little longer in general because a lot now include extra time for industry training (CDTs), but the total research time on the thesis is about the same.