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As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

nautil.us

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Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#111

Post by qotgalaxy »

delecti wrote: post #36
munificent wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I still haven't come across things that see against the natural order. So many people these days spend hours watching short-form videos spray endlessly from a screen while they stare dumbly at it. They aren't even picking which videos to watch, just letting the algorithm do it. Every time I see someone doing that, I just absolutely cannot relate to what's going on in their head at all. I'm certainly not above watch…

I don't want to defend short-form video feeds too much, but "They aren't even picking which videos to watch" is overstating it. Essentially nobody behaves like: watch 100% of a video, swipe, watch 100%, swipe. The expected behavior is that you swipe away if you're not interested, which is often done within a fraction of a second. Accordingly, Tiktok's content selection algorithm heavily weighs watch time as a signal…

[dead]

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#112

Post by moralestapia »

hackthemack wrote: post #6

I prefer the full quote by Douglas Adams. I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented…

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy always make me burst into uncontrollable laughter.

How was that guy SO creative and talented on that? Truly a treasure.

Anyone can recommend books/movies with a similar style?

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#113

Post by alphawhisky »

ferguess_k wrote: post #106

My parent hunch is that most researchers choose to marry and have kids, and that significantly reduces his, and maybe, just maybe, that changes in hormone also makes him/her less aggressive and ambitious -- in all perspectives. I'd really love to see some researches on scientists who NEVER marry/have kids against people who married and have kids.

Yeah, but what about Dr. Doofenschmirtz? He has a teenage daughter and manages to push the envelope in multiple fields of science.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#114

Post by tgv »

ferguess_k wrote: post #106

My parent hunch is that most researchers choose to marry and have kids, and that significantly reduces his, and maybe, just maybe, that changes in hormone also makes him/her less aggressive and ambitious -- in all perspectives. I'd really love to see some researches on scientists who NEVER marry/have kids against people who married and have kids.

There are possibilities that involves less biological determinism: the older, the more work done in collaboration. Or: researchers stay with their original subject, which often (remember: we're talking averages here) gradually becomes more main stream.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#116

Post by mkl »

etiam wrote: post #102
kulahan wrote: post #3

Author must not have heard of Nobel Disease - many laureates go on to propose absolutely batshit insane theories. Sounds disruptive to me…

Examples? I can't really think of any.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_disease

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#117

Post by embedding-shape »

amai wrote: post #88

It is not about the age, it is about the time you work in a specific field. If you are newcomer to a field you simply don't know what is difficult and what is not. So you have a more open mind. See for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuval_Ne'eman This guy was a soldier for 15 years before he studied physics for 3 years and discovered SU(3) and quarks before Gell-Mann did. So switching fields opens your mind fo…

Maybe we shouldn't extrapolate so fast though. Maybe if Ne'eman didn't spend 15 years as a paramilitary militia, he'd be studying physics 15 years sooner, and came up with even more great stuff than he did. But we wouldn't ever know, and we also don't know if the 15 years of paramilitary/military helped him or made things worse.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#118

Post by dugidugout »

ljosifov wrote: post #110
slillibri wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about number 3. As a 53 year old Gen X'er, I still haven't come across things that see against the natural order. The main things I don't understand are things like the Humane AI pin, which didn't seem against the natural order, I just didn't see the appeal or usefulness of it. Maybe it just doesn't seem like there is much new being invented.

What we see and experience - it's all natural, it's the natural order. :-) When people claim something is un-natural, usually it's natural in that occurs in nature, only - they themselves find it objectionable. It's something they personally dislike, and would rather it not happen.

Drama is the moment a person discovers their most private feelings are not private at all, but historical forces passing through them.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#119

Post by behringer »

Xcelerate wrote: post #97

I feel like we still don’t have great research on how much of this is due to biological factors related to age and how much is due to confounding factors. I suspect that sustained creativity may be a result of continuous exposure to new experiences and concepts (which younger people are naturally situated to encounter quite often), so I try to consistently add novelty to my life as I get older, specifically targeting…

no need to go up in a plane, just learn to fly in a flight simulator. It's not quite the same but they are very realistic.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#120

Post by conductr »

slillibri wrote: post #27
hackthemack wrote: post #6

I prefer the full quote by Douglas Adams. I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented…

I don't know about number 3. As a 53 year old Gen X'er, I still haven't come across things that see against the natural order. The main things I don't understand are things like the Humane AI pin, which didn't seem against the natural order, I just didn't see the appeal or usefulness of it. Maybe it just doesn't seem like there is much new being invented.

You have to know to look around you, at your peers, and come to the conclusion that this generality is quite true even if you’re personal datum varies.
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