The Risk of Discovery

#1

Post by tyn » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 3:33 PM UTC

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#2

Post by malanj » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:31 PM UTC

I wish pg would start writing longer form essays again. His startup essays had a huge impact on my approach to building startups. They were hugely insightful and inspirational for me.

This essay has a great core insight, and I get you don't need more words to say it, but I still miss the longer ones

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#3

Post by aaron-lebo » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:32 PM UTC

I'm not seeing what the risk was. He was taking a chance that he was wrong, yes, but that was just science. Risk suggests a danger. But what was it?

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#4

Post by cfmcdonald » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:39 PM UTC

Sorry, Newton didn't "make bets", he was not a Silicon Valley VC. He worked on problems that he found interesting and that he believed would reveal eternal truths established and maintained by God.

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#5

Post by xiaoma » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:39 PM UTC

aaron-lebo wrote: post #3

I'm not seeing what the risk was. He was taking a chance that he was wrong, yes, but that was just science. Risk suggests a danger. But what was it?

Excommunication, ostracism and poverty.

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#6

Post by aaron-lebo » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:41 PM UTC

xiaoma wrote: post #5

aaron-lebo wrote: post #3

I'm not seeing what the risk was. He was taking a chance that he was wrong, yes, but that was just science. Risk suggests a danger. But what was it?

Excommunication, ostracism and poverty.

But that's the thing: he was wrong about that stuff and he didn't suffer any real consequences for being so.

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#7

Post by Rickasaurus » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:41 PM UTC

PG's articles sure have gone down hill :(

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#8

Post by skolos » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:42 PM UTC

aaron-lebo wrote: post #3

I'm not seeing what the risk was. He was taking a chance that he was wrong, yes, but that was just science. Risk suggests a danger. But what was it?

Here "risk" is opportunity cost. You can spend all you life in theology and die unknown. Newton is famous only because of physics, the other fields were waste of his time. There are countless people who spend their life perusing projects that do not produce anything valuable. And then there are few that win Nobel.

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#9

Post by rubidium » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:42 PM UTC

cfmcdonald wrote: post #4

Sorry, Newton didn't "make bets", he was not a Silicon Valley VC. He worked on problems that he found interesting and that he believed would reveal eternal truths established and maintained by God.

Exactly. PG: Get your grubby money-first hands off the biographies of those who are driven by a genuine interest in understanding the world.

Re: The Risk of Discovery

#10

Post by sxg » Thu, Jan 12, 2017, 4:48 PM UTC

Rickasaurus wrote: post #7

PG's articles sure have gone down hill :(

Or maybe you're just remembering his successful articles and forgetting his lower quality ones?