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Some advice from Jeff Bezos

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Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#121

Post by slindstr »

seivan wrote: post #119
a5seo wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started as a programmer and got an MBA from an ok school (top 20). The combination is very valuable (at least to me) for exactly the reason you cite: the best decisions require wading around in the mucky details. The MBA gives you a few tools that are helpful, but mainly it's a way to brand yourself and have people give you the benefit of the doubt that you can do things other than strictly build stuff. I personall…

Oh really, what did the MBA teach you? What tools are useful in your arsenal of building a great business and product?

I also got my MBA after getting my BS in Computer Science and while I think I could have learned most everything we talked about by reading books, I did learn:

- public speaking because we had to do a presentation just about every other week

- how business people with little or no technology experience think and their perceptions about technology

- how to talk to the people in the above bullet about technology

- firing people because one of my groups had a member that was not pulling her own weight, and we were told to fire her from the group

I also agree that the branding aspect is also (somehow) helpful. I recently moved from Florida to SF and when I was looking for jobs you wouldn't believe how many people were really excited/impressed/whatever that I had an MBA in addition to being able to answer the tough software questions.

If I had a choice to go back and either spend $50k on an MBA or spend it traveling the world, I would definitely choose the latter, though.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#122

Post by colmmacc »

Sakes wrote: post #103
kevinalexbrown wrote: post #69

Keeping an open mind is a great philosophy, so long as your mind doesn't change so quickly that no one can coordinate actions with you. But I'm having a difficult time inferring the significance of this post. On the one hand, if I'm constantly changing my mind, and my mind tends to change toward a stable, slow-changing correct solution, by definition, I'll be "right a lot", so long as I've had sufficient time to conv…

Significance of the post - This is a list of common characteristics that Jeff has seen in people he considers to be geniuses. Maybe it is possible that if us normal people adopt these characteristics into our own identity, we might be able to achieve genius status as well. As far as the details you get into about the constantly changing mind, the solution changing rapidly, and focus on self supporting details, I thin…

If we pop another stack frame, I think there's a deeper level of meaning to the statement "Smart people change their minds".

Smart people are open to evidence and argument. But also I think many really smart people recognise that their own cognition is a mutable thing, that the mind changes as we age and that we can play a role in that. They change their minds.

By immersing themselves in hard, interesting problems, surrounding themselves with other smart or inspiring people and by savouring experiences - that they change the thoughts that occur to them, the memories they can build upon, and the way in which they can form conclusions.

Maybe the really really smart people can even direct change in their mind about how they change their mind.

Then again, maybe that kind of meta-cogitation is tail-recursive.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#123

Post by 001sky »

tsotha wrote: post #104
ellyagg wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As Keynes said, "When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?" When I was younger, I didn't know what confirmation bias was. I had to be introduced to the concept. After being introduced, I was able to make better decisions. Although it may seem trivially true to you (now?), it's not to everyone. You may be reading more into "change their minds a lot" than is intended. A lot in this conte…

>When I was younger, I didn't know what confirmation bias was. I had to be introduced to the concept. After being introduced, I was able to make better decisions. Hah! You only think that because you're not counting the bad decisions. >Decision making biases of various sorts are my chief pet peeve in modern life. It's almost impossible to discuss public policy with people, even in the smartest online forums I know. I…

Not to be snarky or pedantic, but you're describing a Heuristic, not a bias. On the other hand, Wisdom is in large part knowing what not to do as a starting point. It may be wrong, which would be in error, but a true bias probably not.

___________

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_bias Sherlock holmes: eliminate the impossible, and what is left, however improbable is the truth. &tc.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#124

Post by goblin89 »

davesims wrote: post #50
Xcelerate wrote: post #35

I would argue that this is the defining factor in what makes someone intelligent or not. If you're always revising your ways of thinking about a problem, your probability of converging on a solution is vastly greater than someone with a narrow, one-track focus. In fact, another article on the HN homepage ( http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/streams-of-consciousness... ) elaborates on this point of trying multiple "s…

Great comment. I appreciate the principle you're working towards, and largely agree with it. But I wonder if the analogy with Physics works well as a broad metaphor for "intelligence." The gaps between Newtonian, Quantum and Relativity model physics are singular instances of a peculiar, nearly paradoxical set of apparent contradictions that of course have yet to be fully resolved. Each is correct within its own domai…

A quote from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance comes to mind:

> You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#125

Post by tomjen3 »

locopati wrote: post #65
wissler wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be inconsistent is the easiest thing in the world: just refuse to think about the meaning of what you believe or do. I don't think the point of Bezos's remark was that we should aspire to be inconsistent, but rather, we should be open to considering that our ideas might be wrong. A better quote for this idea: "Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You…

'Contradictions do not exist' is nonsense. Contradictions exist all over the place. Any time you get two people together you'll have contradictions due to viewpoint, experience, perspectives. Denying that contradictions exist is a child-like view of the world. Working with the contradictions of life, now that's the fun and the challenge, isn't it?

Ah, but that is not a contradiction. If two people differ one some item of discussion it is not a contradiction. One of them is wrong.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#126

Post by dan00 »

davesims wrote: post #50
Xcelerate wrote: post #35

I would argue that this is the defining factor in what makes someone intelligent or not. If you're always revising your ways of thinking about a problem, your probability of converging on a solution is vastly greater than someone with a narrow, one-track focus. In fact, another article on the HN homepage ( http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/streams-of-consciousness... ) elaborates on this point of trying multiple "s…

Great comment. I appreciate the principle you're working towards, and largely agree with it. But I wonder if the analogy with Physics works well as a broad metaphor for "intelligence." The gaps between Newtonian, Quantum and Relativity model physics are singular instances of a peculiar, nearly paradoxical set of apparent contradictions that of course have yet to be fully resolved. Each is correct within its own domai…

"So, on the one hand a certain openness and teachability is necessary, but then at strategic points in the development of an idea, a certain stubbornness and myopia seems to be equally important to the ultimate execution of a vision."

I think that's the reason why I don't seem to be able to commit myself to one thing.

But is it mostly a personal trait and forcing yourself just can't work? How should it be possible to switch between openness and stubbornness on demand?

Perhaps that's the reason why there are different personal traits, because switching doesn't work, so it's easier to get the balance by different personal traits, arguing against each other.

There might be personalities, which are able to balance themself better, but I don't seem to be one of them.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#127

Post by silverbax88 »

papsosouid wrote: post #28
silverbax88 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true, except the definition is elastic in politics. A candidate who thought a certain way at 18 years old is expected to still think the same way - on all opinions - at 45, which is absolutely ludicrous.

That's a strawman though, nobody actually says that. People complain about "flip flopping" when they see a politician campaigning and he or she says one thing on tuesday, something contradictory on wednesday, and then is back to the previous position again on thursday.

Actually, it has been used many times. Most recently, Bill Clinton was forced to defend things he wrote when he was at Oxford; George Bush was named as a person whose foreign policy platform was unchanged since he was 16, just to name two.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#128

Post by robertskmiles »

001sky wrote: post #123
tsotha wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>When I was younger, I didn't know what confirmation bias was. I had to be introduced to the concept. After being introduced, I was able to make better decisions. Hah! You only think that because you're not counting the bad decisions. >Decision making biases of various sorts are my chief pet peeve in modern life. It's almost impossible to discuss public policy with people, even in the smartest online forums I know. I…

Not to be snarky or pedantic, but you're describing a Heuristic, not a bias. On the other hand, Wisdom is in large part knowing what not to do as a starting point. It may be wrong, which would be in error, but a true bias probably not. ___________ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_bias Sherlock holmes: eliminate the impossible, and what is left, however improbable is the…

You're right about heuristics, but the relevant wiki page for bias is really "Cognitive Bias"[1] rather than "Statistical Bias".

Also Holmes is not a good example of a rationalist; his main ability comes from being a fictional protagonist. Holmes cannot be a much better source of rationality advice than Conan Doyle, who quite literally believed in fairies.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Bias

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#129

Post by gioele »

tomjen3 wrote: post #125
locopati wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Contradictions do not exist' is nonsense. Contradictions exist all over the place. Any time you get two people together you'll have contradictions due to viewpoint, experience, perspectives. Denying that contradictions exist is a child-like view of the world. Working with the contradictions of life, now that's the fun and the challenge, isn't it?

Ah, but that is not a contradiction. If two people differ one some item of discussion it is not a contradiction. One of them is wrong.

_At least one_ of them is wrong.

Re: Some advice from Jeff Bezos

#130

Post by 001sky »

robertskmiles wrote: post #128
001sky wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to be snarky or pedantic, but you're describing a Heuristic, not a bias. On the other hand, Wisdom is in large part knowing what not to do as a starting point. It may be wrong, which would be in error, but a true bias probably not. ___________ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_bias Sherlock holmes: eliminate the impossible, and what is left, however improbable is the…

You're right about heuristics, but the relevant wiki page for bias is really "Cognitive Bias"[1] rather than "Statistical Bias". Also Holmes is not a good example of a rationalist; his main ability comes from being a fictional protagonist. Holmes cannot be a much better source of rationality advice than Conan Doyle, who quite literally believed in fairies . [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Bias

This is actually a very good comment. Some of these ideas are nested, logically. A Heuristic is not per-se biased, although a subset of heuristics is in fact associated with the origin of the term 'cognitive bias'. Viz,

Although much of the work of discovering heuristics in human decision-makers was done by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman,[4] the concept was originally introduced by Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon. Gerd Gigerenzer focuses on how heuristics can be used to make judgments that are in principle accurate, rather than producing cognitive biases

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