Very disappointing. The author seems ignorant of the entire science of Psychohistory. Since it is now possible to predict human development hundreds of years into the future no idea is really new anymore.
May you elaborate ? How you claim that is possible to predict the human development ? In which way ? It to me seems a very over-simplification... Anyway, from the wikipedia the first time the term "psycho-history" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory#Emergence_as_a_di... ) is been used is 1958, it is a good guess to say that the article is been written no later than the 1960... I guess we can forgive Asimov..…
Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
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Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#22Very disappointing. The author seems ignorant of the entire science of Psychohistory. Since it is now possible to predict human development hundreds of years into the future no idea is really new anymore.
May you elaborate ? How you claim that is possible to predict the human development ? In which way ? It to me seems a very over-simplification... Anyway, from the wikipedia the first time the term "psycho-history" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory#Emergence_as_a_di... ) is been used is 1958, it is a good guess to say that the article is been written no later than the 1960... I guess we can forgive Asimov..…
ronilan is referencing Asimov's Foundation trilogy, which has the premise that psycho-history has developed into a hard science and a reliable technology.
Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#23Does this mean Reddit is a more auspicious environment for new ideas to flourish? HN is way too confined of a place for "foolishness", that Asimov sees as conductive, to be permitted without things going haywire.
Yes. HN is often outright hostile to new ideas. How often is the top comment something along the lines of "here's why that won't work" or "here's what the author forgot."
HN comment threads are heavy on criticism, light on creation.
Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#24Permutation. You take an old idea, and you pull out all the variables and you start permuting upon them.
Yes!
... but which variables?
Permutations grow exponentially as you add dimensions, so you can't have too many.
Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
May you elaborate ? How you claim that is possible to predict the human development ? In which way ? It to me seems a very over-simplification... Anyway, from the wikipedia the first time the term "psycho-history" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory#Emergence_as_a_di... ) is been used is 1958, it is a good guess to say that the article is been written no later than the 1960... I guess we can forgive Asimov..…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_%28fictional%29
Thanks
Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#26Does this mean Reddit is a more auspicious environment for new ideas to flourish? HN is way too confined of a place for "foolishness", that Asimov sees as conductive, to be permitted without things going haywire.
I'm of the mindset that an important part of creativity lies in the clarity and precision with which a particular individual's idea is expressed (whatever form or medium that takes).
Someone else mentioned that HN is a great display of creativity which is a good way of putting it. This (and places like Reddit, Digg, et al) are merely museums for the real art, which is being wrought out in the world.
Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
May you elaborate ? How you claim that is possible to predict the human development ? In which way ? It to me seems a very over-simplification... Anyway, from the wikipedia the first time the term "psycho-history" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory#Emergence_as_a_di... ) is been used is 1958, it is a good guess to say that the article is been written no later than the 1960... I guess we can forgive Asimov..…
ronilan is referencing Asimov's Foundation trilogy, which has the premise that psycho-history has developed into a hard science and a reliable technology.
Still I don't get it...
> Since it is now possible to predict human development hundreds of years into the future no idea is really new anymore.
It is just sarcasm then ?
If not can somebody elaborate ?
Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
ronilan is referencing Asimov's Foundation trilogy, which has the premise that psycho-history has developed into a hard science and a reliable technology.
Still I don't get it... > Since it is now possible to predict human development hundreds of years into the future no idea is really new anymore. It is just sarcasm then ? If not can somebody elaborate ?
Neither. It is the type of comment that takes two opposing concepts and instead of contrasting them on both edges of the idea spectrum places them one inside the other.
Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#29This reminded me of Bret Victor's great talk Inventing on Principle[0]. 0. https://vimeo.com/36579366
Great talk. Do you know what tools was he demonstrating?
Are these tools available to use?
Re: Isaac Asimov Mulls “How Do People Get New Ideas?” (1959)
#30> To feel guilty because one has not earned one’s salary because one has not had a great idea is the surest way, it seems to me, of making it certain that no great idea will come in the next time either.
Feynman has a similar story about playing with ideas and just enjoying the process instead of worrying about the pressures associated with being great: https://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~kilcup/262/feynman.html.