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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?

#221

Post by nautilius »

agentcoops wrote: post #176

I'm very similar and would just give you two pieces of advice: (1) buy books compulsively and don't do your research predominantly online, and (2) make sure you write often, whether or not you publish your work or keep it to yourself. I think the latter is the most important advice for those trying to pursue an intellectual path outside of academia -- if you don't develop a habit of writing, you aren't really synthes…

> In the US, the thought is that if you're doing a PhD, say, it's a full-time professionalized pursuit under the assumption you will be a professor; in the rest of the world, a PhD is essentially an apprenticeship in writing under a mentor for however long it takes you, often with no aim (i.e. career) other than that writing itself.

Couldn't disagree more with all of these statements.

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

#222

Post by giantg2 »

risyachka wrote: post #181
crispyambulance wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you frame it as just "extra knowledge" then, sure, it's not a weakness. The problem is when extra knowledge is acquired at the expense of deeper focus (knowledge) in another area.

>> The problem is when extra knowledge is acquired at the expense of deeper focus (knowledge) in another area. How it this a problem? It is just another way.

Just as an example, if you look at tech job postings you'll see that they almost all want someone who is an expert - mostly senior level, have a core tech listed in the title (eg Senior React Engineer at Company X). I rarely see any truly general roles posted. People want "T" or Pi shaped devs, nobody wants a "-" shaped dev.

As a dev with 10 years experience and a masters who has not been allowed to specialize due to language/stack/project/product context switching, I can anecdotally say that generalists are not valued and that this breadth of learning generally prevents specialization. I am only a midlevel and make under $100k in a moderate-high COL area.

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

#223

Post by nabnob »

agentcoops wrote: post #179
samh748 wrote: post #154

OP here, the second of my general response, to these types of comments: > I just want to mention here that "swimming in ideas" does not equal understanding. > How do you know you are really moving anywhere but not standing? > OP wants to read "textbooks to learn basic concepts" and "swim in their ideas". That doesn't equal competence. > The reading/learning you are doing is entertainment. It's not that much better th…

I posted above before I'd read this -- I'd really stress again that, at least in the humanities, writing is the difference between mere 'accumulation of knowledge', which we all know will eventually be forgotten, and understanding. I would actually recommend Umberto Eco's book How to Write a Thesis as a great foundation for how to structure your cross-disciplinary studies and synthesize, again even if just for yourse…

This is great advice, saving, thanks!

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

#224

Post by kirso »

cauliflower99 wrote: post #158
kirso wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the one thing that you picked in the end? I believe its the hardest part, releasing the notion of the rest...

I'm a software developer by trade, but for the last 2 years I've been studying with the focus of becoming an organisation director / coach with the ultimate goal of a consultant in the next few years. So I need to learn a whole range of tools to be decent in such a position - facilitation, psychology, therapy techniques (not therapy though!), communication, public speaking (which I hate). Few people in software have…

Great stuff.

I totally agree that constraints help us, in fact it seems like people with families are more productive than me because they need to focus otherwise the goal will always be illusive.

Also I think the skills you outlined above are much more transferrable. Even things like writing, communicaiton, public speaking, relationship building will get you really far and are applicable in almost every field.

I kind of chosen the opposite, coming from tech sales - trying to focus on learning to build!

Wish you all the best!

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

#225

Post by newbamboo »

sideshowb wrote: post #92
bckr wrote: post #2

I was going to suggest writing, and I'll go one further: Do write a blog, but don't just write a blog. Write a blog, and then create a video for each blog post, and upload it to YouTube (where the eyeballs willing to consume intellectual material are). Also do livestreams. Start interviewing anyone who will take you seriously. Set a goal for who your dream interviewee is. Do this for a couple years, putting out conte…

> YouTube (where the eyeballs willing to consume intellectual material are). Whyyyyyyyyy?! Seriously I'm curious, what happened? Do intellectuals (whatever that means) really not prefer reading any more? A desire for Podcasts/audiobooks I can understand, as someone who occasionally has to drive places, but video?

Because attending lectures in person is anachronistic.

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

#226

Post by JoeDaDude »

icc97 wrote: post #134

Write and keep writing. Find the connections between the disparate fields. You have to write your thoughts down because you'll have so many you'll forget them. Buy a bunch of lovely notebooks and coloured pens and write all your thoughts. Your thoughts and how you write will change over time. I did nothing but write in my note books under the heading 'Thoughts and Feelings' for 10 years or more based on some advice a…

I was going to suggest this, but take it a step further and consider writing commercially. A huge number of press articles and books have been written just to explain subjects to other who are not professionals in the field, but have an incessant curiosity about many subjects. A casual search will turn up innumerable explanations of how, for example, machine learning works, or what quantum computing could do, what the Mars rovers have found, or what GMO foods are. IMHO, these articles and books provide a meaningful social service in keeping people informed on subjects which could impact society or their lives.

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

#227

Post by alonsonic »

nautilius wrote: post #221
agentcoops wrote: post #176

I'm very similar and would just give you two pieces of advice: (1) buy books compulsively and don't do your research predominantly online, and (2) make sure you write often, whether or not you publish your work or keep it to yourself. I think the latter is the most important advice for those trying to pursue an intellectual path outside of academia -- if you don't develop a habit of writing, you aren't really synthes…

> In the US, the thought is that if you're doing a PhD, say, it's a full-time professionalized pursuit under the assumption you will be a professor; in the rest of the world, a PhD is essentially an apprenticeship in writing under a mentor for however long it takes you, often with no aim (i.e. career) other than that writing itself. Couldn't disagree more with all of these statements.

Very insightful comment. Would you mind to explain why you disagree?

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

#228

Post by samh748 »

fn1 wrote: post #67

I just want to mention here that "swimming in ideas" does not equal understanding. For almost every discipline you need years of practice and appliation to be able to understand it deeper than most. Don't take this the wrong way, but here's an XKCD somewhat related to this topic: https://xkcd.com/863/

I appreciate the warning. I made a general comment in response to this topic here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30930012

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

#229

Post by softwarefounder »

leobg wrote: post #164

Investing might be an area where you can profit from being the way you are. I am very similar, having read way over 1k books in the last ten years or so, on a perversely wide array of subjects. I’ve also done everything from tinkering with Arduinos all the way to marriage counseling. But I quickly get bored and move on to the next field. An early disciple of CG Jung, Marie Louise von Franz, wrote that the life of our…

Yes to those last couple of lines.

I started to pursue a Masters of Divinity, but quickly dropped out as I came to terms that my motivation was primarily to "have the upper-hand" in conversations. (Not to mention I can't set aside 6 years of my life for school right now).

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

#230

Post by blueblob »

alonsonic wrote: post #227
nautilius wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the US, the thought is that if you're doing a PhD, say, it's a full-time professionalized pursuit under the assumption you will be a professor; in the rest of the world, a PhD is essentially an apprenticeship in writing under a mentor for however long it takes you, often with no aim (i.e. career) other than that writing itself. Couldn't disagree more with all of these statements.

Very insightful comment. Would you mind to explain why you disagree?

Not the parent commenter, but I agree with the sentiment. The selected portion of the earlier comment has multiple pieces that I disagree with: 1) A PhD isn't about writing, and 2) you are not expected to become a professor once you get a PhD in the US.

A PhD isn't really about writing, it's about research. Writing is merely the means of demonstrating that you know how to do research. The way that you break something down involves finding a gap in understanding or a portion of a problem that has not been addressed. Then you find an insight that leads to potential solutions to address the gap. Then you run experiments based around the insight. It is fundamentally a way of thinking, not a way of writing. That's why it's a Doctorate of Philosophy. The actual topic that you cover for your thesis is not as important as the demonstration that you know how to think about research. It's moderately unlikely that you will be working on the same problem in industry.

It's commonplace, at least in engineering programs, to ask whether you're going to go into industry or academia. Research positions in industry typically go to PhDs or Masters with a lot of experience. It is much harder to break into the research world without a PhD in the US. So I believe the original statement:

> a full-time professionalized pursuit under the assumption you will be a professor

is overly specific. Your future could be a professor, a researcher/scientist, or an entrepreneur.

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