Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#101

Post by drieddust » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 2:53 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #76

tw1010 wrote: post #14

I'm all for egalitarianism in the public sphere, but in private I still believe that there's such a thing as natural born talent. Anyone can probably reach the top 5% in most non-athletic areas given enough time. But if your goal is to maximize your output having already accepted that your time on earth is limited, then the wise thing is to probably steer in directions that have high impact but for you feel dispropor…

> Anyone can probably reach the top 5% in most non-athletic areas given enough time. At any given time, only the 5% of the population can reach the top 5% in any area. If anybody could do it and e.g. just 10% did it, then there would be a new 5% (the top 50% of that 10%), and the rest 50% wouldn't be in. > Thus, I'm a big fan of Peter Theils advice to work on things that satisfy the property that: "if you weren't wor…

> Which is a self-aggrandising way for Theils to say that he helped solve some problems that wouldn't have been solved otherwise.

Exactly, I started reading his book Zero to One and quickly dropped it into trash-bin after scanning randomly. I am not sure why it got rated so high. In my view entire advise boils down to create businesses in uncharted territories and create a monopolies around them.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#102

Post by monk_e_boy » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 2:53 PM UTC

tvanantwerp wrote: post #50

nnd wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest issue with 80,000 hours is that it's a rational, but radically uninspiring advice in the end. It is a framework for those who buy into "don't follow your passion advice", and try to maximize their utility function instead.

A fair criticism. Personally, I've spent enough time around folks who followed their passion and seen where it got them that I'm 100% on board the utility function train.

The problem occurs when passion and expectations differ. An artist who expects a good, easy life, to be wealthy as a plumber etc.

Utility is fine. Packing shelves is fine. Do you have time to follow your passion out of work? Can you make your passion pay enough? Most people I've met who gave up on their passion seemed to want praise, fame and/or notoriety rather than the 'art' or whatever they were producing.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#103

Post by Aeolun » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 2:56 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #76

tw1010 wrote: post #14

I'm all for egalitarianism in the public sphere, but in private I still believe that there's such a thing as natural born talent. Anyone can probably reach the top 5% in most non-athletic areas given enough time. But if your goal is to maximize your output having already accepted that your time on earth is limited, then the wise thing is to probably steer in directions that have high impact but for you feel dispropor…

> Anyone can probably reach the top 5% in most non-athletic areas given enough time. At any given time, only the 5% of the population can reach the top 5% in any area. If anybody could do it and e.g. just 10% did it, then there would be a new 5% (the top 50% of that 10%), and the rest 50% wouldn't be in. > Thus, I'm a big fan of Peter Theils advice to work on things that satisfy the property that: "if you weren't wor…

I don’t think it matters much whether or not it’s actually true. What matters is that you believe it.

Also, there’s a ton of fairly specific problems that haven’t been solved yet, so chances of someone working on it are small.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#104

Post by theoh » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 2:58 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #46

Not clear where you are in your career, but if you're determined to be someone who makes a key breakthrough, your career path is almost totally determined by your undergraduate education. If you were going to be Elon Musk, you wouldn't be asking us for advice.

This isn't true for people who approach their undergraduate degree as a kind of classic liberal arts education or intellectual orientation. Many professional trainings are offered as graduate degrees, without the expectation that an applicant's undergrad training will necessarily get applied. One good example is the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where people with all kinds of backgrounds train to be architects at the graduate level.

Whether you think undergraduate degrees should be vocational (whether they currently are or not) or, in contrast, really just an intellectual taster for topics that students won't necessarily pursue, it would be a mistake to rule out significant "course corrections" at graduate level. Even at the level of PhD admissions, people change fields—especially strong people.

The idea that "genius" is always specialised in a particular academic category, and always knows in advance exactly where it can contribute, is old-fashioned. GH Hardy probably believed it about mathematics, and (for example) the Cambridge math degree probably endorses it implicitly by being so tough. But this kind of macho thinking excludes the possibility of transdisciplinary work, and discriminates against people whose talents aren't easily categorized. It also makes the disciplines which it effects markedly less diverse.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#105

Post by southerndrift » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 2:58 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #76

tw1010 wrote: post #14

I'm all for egalitarianism in the public sphere, but in private I still believe that there's such a thing as natural born talent. Anyone can probably reach the top 5% in most non-athletic areas given enough time. But if your goal is to maximize your output having already accepted that your time on earth is limited, then the wise thing is to probably steer in directions that have high impact but for you feel dispropor…

> Anyone can probably reach the top 5% in most non-athletic areas given enough time. At any given time, only the 5% of the population can reach the top 5% in any area. If anybody could do it and e.g. just 10% did it, then there would be a new 5% (the top 50% of that 10%), and the rest 50% wouldn't be in. > Thus, I'm a big fan of Peter Theils advice to work on things that satisfy the property that: "if you weren't wor…

The ratio between goals and people is not 1:1.

With enough specialization, everybody can become the best in one specific topic. That's the game most phd students play.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#106

Post by masterjack » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 2:58 PM UTC

d--b wrote: post #15

You’ll never regret choosing something you want to work on. Especially when what you want to work also makes money like energy or AI. Also, these fields are not evil or useless like weapon design or hedge funds. They are actually useful to society, so you feel like contributing to the general good. Don’t worry about healthcare, there are thousands of people who work on healthcare. And, if I may, if you did work on he…

Hedge funds can also be a good testbed for technologies, while “do good” companies can use it as an excuse to be bad on the inside. I am fascinated with the potential of large scale crowdsourcing in data science, and finance seems the most natural domain for this, which is why I’m now at Numerai.

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#107

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 3:04 PM UTC

irchans wrote: post #77

Usually I do not decide what problems to solve. They just come to me and I try to solve them. I have tried to solve some big problems, but that has never worked out for me. The "problems" that I solve, or try to solve, come mostly from the following sources: academic colleagues asking questions, natural questions that arise during math seminars, finding the optimal way to reach some goal specified by one of my bosses…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#108

Post by cosminscaunasu » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 3:06 PM UTC

>Has anyone had any experience with this before? Yes, I'm having this experience for a couple of years meaning that I'm asking myself if having a decent salary shouldn't imply that the next step is not to try to get more money but to try to be involved in something useful not only for myself but for everyone. As expected, defining "useful for everyone" is difficult. I guess there are many many ways that the world could improve but since there is also the question of our ability to solve some particular difficult issue the world is facing I think we should choose a domain that we think we are good at or at least that we think that we could get good at. I think almost every domain is supposed to address some important need of humanity, it remains to spot a place in the field where you are really solving that need instead of working in the wrong direction. I'm sure you can find in a domain you are familiar with examples of entities that are trying to make profit first of all and only second to think if overall their impact is positive or not. On the other hand, even if they seem less, I hope you would be able to spot the ones who are honest about what they do and they are interested in solving a problem globally. >If yes, then what and how did you make your decision? Unfortunately, I'm also stuck, I'm browsing all kind of science news for some time to try to find the answer and the best thing I came up with is trying to think about big questions like the one you are asking. I didn't find a way of producing and selling or giving for free something useful in this domain (I guess it would be philosophy) anyway I think a problem that should be solved is how to push more people of asking these kind of questions i.e. to think critically if their actions are pushing everything in the right direction or if they should try and do something more useful for them and for others.

To get back to your question, while not being at all an expert in answering this, I would like to say that is a very good question. To follow the example of major figures in the history of science a lot of them besides being very smart people they were very curious and stubborn about some particular field and they were also lucky to be in the position of connecting the dots. So I think you can find something that is useful for humanity that is also related to what you like or would like to do. It will not be obvious for the beginning but sometimes what start as doing something for fun in the spare time can evolve into something important. Of course with the appropriate feedback mechanism of knowing that the end goal is to be useful as a long term project. Trying to trace back why I became a programmer I can only identify the fact that I was amazed to hear about a machine that would be able to play multiple games; then, since I was not so good at games I got bored and tried something else like playing with the other things a computer could do eventually getting to program in high school.

I think you are already on the right track, so good luck!

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#109

Post by dmitripopov » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 3:06 PM UTC

Primary project: what you REALLY want to work on

Side project: what you think makes you a good person (or whatever drives you NOT to do what you enjoy working on).

Re: Ask HN: How did you decide what problems to solve in your lifetime?

#110

Post by Kaveren » Sun, Jan 06, 2019, 3:09 PM UTC

PedroSan wrote: post #98

pieterhg wrote: post #32

I think you can't really consciously decide what you want to do with your life. Life happens to you: "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever." - Steve Jobs You can however increase the odds of things coming on your path that…

Hear hear. Life happens to you. All you can do is try to make sure you enjoy the ride. When you are younger you think you can have it all, but that isn't the case. So many things can disrupt your path, the list is endless. Best advice is to follow your instincts, not your rationale. Life isn't a choice. It's some sort of roadtrip. You don't know how or where it will end and what will happen along the way. You may dec…

This is not the mindset that people who achieve anything have. It's a defeatist attitude. Many people have, to use the saying, had it all, and many have fought past roadblocks to get there. People who let life wash over them never get anywhere.