The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius • Hacker News Board

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#141

Post by ralfd » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:02 PM UTC

0x445442 wrote: post #134

INGELRII wrote: post #32

Side note about Newton and occult. Newton was not just a physicist who dabbled with occult. He turned occult into physics. Before Newton scientists and natural philosophers like Descartes believed that movements were caused by physical contact. Newton started traditionally and proposed the existence of ether that transmits forces. When he became interested in alchemy, he replaced ether with occult forces that repel a…

I'm always amazed when I'm reminded of the genesis of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Whether you think it sprung solely from his mind or not, the thought experiment is so simple a young child can understand but look at the ramifications which follow. Just remarkable.

Which thought experiment?

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#142

Post by ralfd » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:04 PM UTC

ArtWomb wrote: post #93

"The man who said 'I'd rather be lucky than good' saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose" -Woody…

... something about battery tech?

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#143

Post by onlyrealcuzzo » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:06 PM UTC

sgentle wrote: post #72

Competitive gaming is a particularly good example of this. I followed most of the rise of Dota from trashy Warcraft 3 mod to Valve's multi-million-dollar-prize-pool juggernaut. The first few crops of Dota millionaires all had the same backstory: "I played this game 14 hours a day. If there were tournaments at all they didn't really pay anything. My parents said I was wasting my life. I never had a girlfriend. Everyon…

Yeah, for reference, even mid-level people at FAANG in basically any field can make $1M in 2-3 years. I think most people have no idea how much some laborers can make in the US.

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be a genius to work in FAANG. It's a lot of luck. You just have to give yourself as many good chances in the interview pipeline as possible.

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#144

Post by gniv » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:09 PM UTC

skybrian wrote: post #112

This essay has a very individualist underlying assumption that one person has to do it all. Maybe that's not true? Could a community of hobbyists who share the same obsession make progress? If a lot of the effort comes from going down blind alleys until you hit on something, it seems like the work could be pretty easily distributed?

> Could a community of hobbyists who share the same obsession make progress?

That's a very good point and worthy of its own essay. I'm thinking of how even though there are more scientists working than ever, breakthroughs are still rare.

Maybe combining Paul's idea with the idea of bringing such people together via forums/communities would accelerate progress? (And no, I don't think academic labs count). Ah, maybe something like the Polymath Project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath_Project

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#145

Post by powerset » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:13 PM UTC

On the subject of encouraging kids to go deep and explore whatever they're interested in learning, I had that opportunity as a kid who homeschooled, and I think it benefited me a lot. Sure, I still had to spend some time learning things I was less interested in, like memorizing times tables, but I feel like the freedom to spend 50% or more of my time going deep and learning whatever I want (this is called "unschooling") did a huge amount to cultivate a lifelong love for learning that has served me well. It would have been hard to get that in public school.

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#146

Post by WhompingWindows » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:18 PM UTC

ralfd wrote: post #141

0x445442 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always amazed when I'm reminded of the genesis of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Whether you think it sprung solely from his mind or not, the thought experiment is so simple a young child can understand but look at the ramifications which follow. Just remarkable.

Which thought experiment?

What would it be like to ride on a beam of light? What would happen if you're on a motorcycle that's going the speed of light, that then has a headlight that's throwing light forward at the speed of light?

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#147

Post by pitchups » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:18 PM UTC

Prediction:'Bus ticket collecting' will enter our lexicon as a new way to describe obsessive pursuits with little or no perceived impact - or at least it would appear to have no foreseeable impact or future to you at that point in time. The opposite of what you should be doing with your life if you want to make a difference. As in : "Although I enjoyed my new research area, at times I wondered if I was merely bus ticket collecting.."

The paradox though is that you cannot know in advance if you are merely bus ticket collecting or pursuing something that will have a real impact. Just like Darwin had no way of knowing if his excessive obsession with natural history would go on to change the world, and lead to the theory of evolution. In the essay, pg does give heuristics on how to figure out the difference - but the greater the potential for impact the less likely it is that you will be able to tell the difference. In other words, the most transformative discoveries will likely seem most like bus ticket collecting and a wase of time, at least initially.

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#148

Post by tptacek » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:19 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #77

mrep wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tptacek has 323873 since november 2007 [0] or an average of 2,249 per month so probably quite a bit higher. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=tptacek

I probably should have specified “besides tptacek.” He’s a fascinating outlier. He once claimed he was worried some Russians were going to harm him due to his HN comments. I still wonder if he was just saying that to sound cool, but truth is often strange. That average does put things into perspective though.

I said what? If this was in person, I'm confident I was both drunk and joking.

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#149

Post by brilee » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:22 PM UTC

ralfd wrote: post #141

0x445442 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always amazed when I'm reminded of the genesis of Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Whether you think it sprung solely from his mind or not, the thought experiment is so simple a young child can understand but look at the ramifications which follow. Just remarkable.

Which thought experiment?

Special relativity is the set of equations that arises when you take a hypothesis: "you always perceive light as traveling at a speed `c`, no matter how fast you're going" and work out what would have to change in order to allow this statement to hold true.

Re: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius

#150

Post by Alex3917 » Sat, Nov 23, 2019, 4:24 PM UTC

sgentle wrote: post #72

Competitive gaming is a particularly good example of this. I followed most of the rise of Dota from trashy Warcraft 3 mod to Valve's multi-million-dollar-prize-pool juggernaut. The first few crops of Dota millionaires all had the same backstory: "I played this game 14 hours a day. If there were tournaments at all they didn't really pay anything. My parents said I was wasting my life. I never had a girlfriend. Everyon…

> Competitive gaming is a particularly good example of this.

Anything competitive is emphatically not a good example of this. If you're in a competition, then by definition you're doing the exact same thing as everyone else. That's a guaranteed recipe for not accomplishing anything meaningful in life.

Competition can be great for cultivating positive character traits and developing certain skills, but at some point you need to move beyond it.