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Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

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Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#71

Post by e19293001 »

Since you mention that you like writing, and loves to swim to the ideas of others. I just thought that you should make notes on the ideas that you gathered. The related that idea to the other ideas. You need a system on how to organize those ideas.

After I read your post, I realized that you might be interested on how "Niklas Luhmann and his Zettelkasten" became a success.

You also might want to check the book: How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking by S. Ahrens

Zettelkastenp[0] has been mentioned a lot here in HN.

Software like notion, roam, emacs org-roam, obsidian, etc, can support this system.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#72

Post by ZephyrBlu »

Llamamoe wrote: post #60
ZephyrBlu wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's only a strength if you have a strong base and a way to tie things together. Being interested in a bunch of disparate fields is not in itself useful. In fact for most people it's probably completely useless, because you're going to suck at everything. Ex: OP wants to read "textbooks to learn basic concepts" and "swim in their ideas". That doesn't equal competence. However, if you have strong expertise in a partic…

I find that exposure to a broad range of concepts expands cognitive breadth and the set of things one can quickly comprehend exponentially, even in /complete/ absence of expertise or competence. Single-field people tend to be hilariously bad at diffuse reasoning relative to what you'd expect from a person that competent.

Ok, but if you want to operationalize "cognitive breadth" and being able to "quickly comprehend" you need to actually be good at something.

No one is going to pat you on the head for learning the basics of a field 10x faster than someone else because the basics have very little value by themselves.

I say all of this as someone who is very curious and likes learning about new things.

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#73

Post by wolverine876 »

langsoul-com wrote: post #66

At the end of the day, nobody hires a generalist. So whatever you choose should either be private or creative. But most importantly, the reason for the activity should be personal/internal. Otherwise the depressing reality of 0 will hit hard. I believe we're similar, with multiple interests, that's why I started my blog[1] and podcast, The Language of My Soul. But, the only audience is myself when I check it works fi…

> nobody hires a generalist

I don't know about that. And I find the generalists do the hiring.

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#74

Post by sdenton4 »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #72
Llamamoe wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that exposure to a broad range of concepts expands cognitive breadth and the set of things one can quickly comprehend exponentially, even in /complete/ absence of expertise or competence. Single-field people tend to be hilariously bad at diffuse reasoning relative to what you'd expect from a person that competent.

Ok, but if you want to operationalize "cognitive breadth" and being able to "quickly comprehend" you need to actually be good at something. No one is going to pat you on the head for learning the basics of a field 10x faster than someone else because the basics have very little value by themselves. I say all of this as someone who is very curious and likes learning about new things.

A really important step is getting really good at /something/. Once you've done that, it's much easier to hit a similar level of competence in new areas a bit faster.

A big part of being good at something is really mastering the fundamentals. I tend to think it's possible to turn 'master the fundamentals' into a kind of transferable skill.

Another big part of mastery is pattern recognition, which develops from sheer experience. To some extent, learning to recognize important types of patterns is also a transferable skill.

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#75

Post by lawn »

elviejo wrote: post #3

Read a couple of books by Barbara sher: Refuse to choose [0] She calls people like us "Scanners" and claims that our diversity of interests is not a weakness, but a strength. Then goes on techniques to make this skill work for us. [0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594863032/

The book "Range" is another good one on the same theme.

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#76

Post by haveyoubeen »

euroderf wrote: post #62

Don't quit your day job - ya gotta pay the rent. And in the meantime, if you gain satisfaction from satisfying your curiosity about myriad things, go with that. It doesn't have to have an end or a greater purpose. Everybody you know has a head filled with things they'll never "usefully apply" to the greater world around them: it's a fact of life. So if you end up on your deathbed with nothing having really clicked fo…

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#77

Post by TheCowboy »

audiometry wrote: post #64
TheCowboy wrote: post #61

One thing I've done with myself is taken up the hobby of playing prediction markets, and which I now do for a living since the pandemic (though I really want to get back to 'normal' coding job). It involves a wide set of skills and approaches. The subject matter is basically anything that exists. It doesn't require money and you can play for free on sites like gjopen.com. I recommend the book Superforecasting by Phil…

I’m interested in these as both a consumer and a contributor. However I haven’t found many interesting markets. Often are just markets on elections. Additionally many seem to have very small max bet size. What markets have more interesting breadth of coverage + have decent betting limits? I had the impression cftc or sec limit this to avoid become a regulated security.

If your goal is making money, then that's different. I personally don't encourage people to get into the betting aspect unless you don't mind paying my rent, know what I mean? It's one of those "if it was easy everyone would be doing it" things. The limits on bet sizes only matter once you can demonstrate long-term profitability, IMHO. Since prediction skills are still applicable to basically everything, you're not 100% wasting your time just by testing your abilities on gjopen.com.

If you want intellectual engagement and don't prioritize money, then you can find markets on any topics. Which is why I suggested gjopen.com, and if you are good enough then they will try to recruit you to their analytics platform.

But, yes, politics via PredictIt has been the standard CFTC-approved platform. They're rumored to be working on a more general uncapped platform due to competition from Kalshi (next paragraph).

A new YC startup, Kalshi.com, got CFTC approval for uncapped markets with no topic limitations. They only got up and running last year, so often the markets don't play as large with no betting limits even compared to PredictIt. We're hoping they get momentum, but they could be ahead of their time and give up before more widespread adoption takes off.

There is also Polymarkets.com, but it's trying to operate the markets via blockchain. It's often not the greatest user experience for that reason, but they get more leeway on markets and are uncapped.

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#78

Post by warent »

haveyoubeen wrote: post #76
euroderf wrote: post #62

Don't quit your day job - ya gotta pay the rent. And in the meantime, if you gain satisfaction from satisfying your curiosity about myriad things, go with that. It doesn't have to have an end or a greater purpose. Everybody you know has a head filled with things they'll never "usefully apply" to the greater world around them: it's a fact of life. So if you end up on your deathbed with nothing having really clicked fo…

Quoted post unavailable.

Very sad way of seeing the world and experiencing life imho. Sounds like some very traumatic past experiences that are the exception not the norm. things can definitely be much better

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#79

Post by 616c »

elviejo wrote: post #3

Read a couple of books by Barbara sher: Refuse to choose [0] She calls people like us "Scanners" and claims that our diversity of interests is not a weakness, but a strength. Then goes on techniques to make this skill work for us. [0] https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594863032/

Wow, I have struggled with OP's sentiments about how they get engrossed in too many things. Thanks for such a cool book rec, I will add it to the pile but seriously prioritize reading it. It'd be nice to feel good about this compulsion I have, but I often dread it drags me down. Great to see writing about it, and something not negative like you say!

Re: Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

#80

Post by haveyoubeen »

warent wrote: post #78
haveyoubeen wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Very sad way of seeing the world and experiencing life imho. Sounds like some very traumatic past experiences that are the exception not the norm. things can definitely be much better

Sorry to burst your bubble but marriage regret is the norm past age 35. One of the canned responses to going your own way is always "who hurt you".
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