Sounds like “The Diamond Age” and The Primer from it (Stephenson) actually had a good point
Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
21–30 of 41 posts
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#22> Stradivari violins, hand-crafted by members of the Italian Stradivari family, are legendarily considered to have a superior and unique sound compared to violins made with even the most modern techniques.
I read somewhere that Stradivarius aren't better than modern violins in double blind studies, so this 'point' does a disservice to the author and shows that it's quite difficult to differentiate between 'it was better before' and real 'retrogress'..
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#23> Stradivari violins, hand-crafted by members of the Italian Stradivari family, are legendarily considered to have a superior and unique sound compared to violins made with even the most modern techniques. I read somewhere that Stradivarius aren't better than modern violins in double blind studies, so this 'point' does a disservice to the author and shows that it's quite difficult to differentiate between 'it was bet…
"This study compares Stradivari and new violins principally from the listener’s perspective. Projection and preference are taken as the broadest criteria by which listeners might meaningfully separate violins in a hall. Which violins are heard better, and which are preferred? Also explored is the relationship between evaluations made by listeners and those made by players. Two separate experiments were conducted: one in the suburbs of Paris and the other in New York City. In Paris, violins were played with and without an orchestra by blindfolded soloists behind an acoustically transparent screen. The same was done in New York but without an orchestra.
The results are unambiguous: listeners found that new violins projected significantly better than those by Stradivari. Moreover, listeners preferred new violins over old by a significant margin. Although the listeners came from various professional backgrounds (they included musicians, violin makers, and acousticians), very similar results were obtained from all backgrounds. We find a strong correlation between projection with and without an orchestra. This correlation seems fortunate for both players and researchers, in that an orchestra is evidently not required to meaningfully test projection."
[...]
"Note that this study relied on soloists, whose primary need is to be heard over an ensemble. The vast majority of violinists, however, are required to blend into ensembles. Research is needed to clarify the relationship between projection and “blendability.” Less projecting violins could have the advantage in this regard."
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#24One very different answer to this: we've lost a lot of "boring but living wage" jobs with little to no supervision. Einstein had a lot of time to think and sketch and write formulas at jobs like the Swiss Patent Office. How many jobs do you see around you that you can do that and survive? We've seen an incredible rise in "bullshit jobs" but we've also elevated corporate surveillance to incredible heights and much of…
>> we've lost a lot of "boring but living wage" jobs with little to no supervision. Einstein had a lot of time to think and sketch and write formulas at jobs like the Swiss Patent Office. How many jobs do you see around you that you can do that and survive? Aren't you describing most office jobs? Don't a lot of people in our industry say they do "1, maybe 2 hours of real work each day"?
At what age was he there though?
What about the Pascals, Newtons etc.?
These people were ultra precocious.
Nowadays, people navigate toward soft or practical science such as Comp.Sci or Medicine (as practionners)...
Scientists from yesteryear seemed to be more self-driven too.
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#25One very different answer to this: we've lost a lot of "boring but living wage" jobs with little to no supervision. Einstein had a lot of time to think and sketch and write formulas at jobs like the Swiss Patent Office. How many jobs do you see around you that you can do that and survive? We've seen an incredible rise in "bullshit jobs" but we've also elevated corporate surveillance to incredible heights and much of…
>> we've lost a lot of "boring but living wage" jobs with little to no supervision. Einstein had a lot of time to think and sketch and write formulas at jobs like the Swiss Patent Office. How many jobs do you see around you that you can do that and survive? Aren't you describing most office jobs? Don't a lot of people in our industry say they do "1, maybe 2 hours of real work each day"?
The rest is admin, meetings and actually thinking on how to solve the problem (this one is actually 24/7).
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#26One very different answer to this: we've lost a lot of "boring but living wage" jobs with little to no supervision. Einstein had a lot of time to think and sketch and write formulas at jobs like the Swiss Patent Office. How many jobs do you see around you that you can do that and survive? We've seen an incredible rise in "bullshit jobs" but we've also elevated corporate surveillance to incredible heights and much of…
>> we've lost a lot of "boring but living wage" jobs with little to no supervision. Einstein had a lot of time to think and sketch and write formulas at jobs like the Swiss Patent Office. How many jobs do you see around you that you can do that and survive? Aren't you describing most office jobs? Don't a lot of people in our industry say they do "1, maybe 2 hours of real work each day"?
> Don't a lot of people in our industry say they do "1, maybe 2 hours of real work each day"?
Yes, but that doesn't mean people have 6 or 7 hours of free time every day. It means that 6 or 7 hours of the day is absorbed by work activities that don't contribute to the actual work.
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#27I dont really believe this crazy tutoring theory AT ALL. What has changed is that education has become widespread. It is well known that standardized education destroys creativity. Ramanujen was largely self-taught! The stuff you learn on your own or unconventionally makes you capable of solving problems that the cookie cutter intellectuals cannot! If you were born in Oppenheimer's era you gained a huge advantage of…
> The stuff you learn on your own or unconventionally makes you capable of solving problems that the cookie cutter intellectuals cannot!
As the late, great Frank Zappa once said: "If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library."
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#28I dont really believe this crazy tutoring theory AT ALL. What has changed is that education has become widespread. It is well known that standardized education destroys creativity. Ramanujen was largely self-taught! The stuff you learn on your own or unconventionally makes you capable of solving problems that the cookie cutter intellectuals cannot! If you were born in Oppenheimer's era you gained a huge advantage of…
> The stuff you learn on your own or unconventionally makes you capable of solving problems that the cookie cutter intellectuals cannot! As the late, great Frank Zappa once said: "If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library."
Right, because John von Neumann, Alan Turing, etc. skipped college to play the guitar.
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#29> Maybe we don’t make Einsteins anymore because we don’t make Max Talmuds anymore.
I think the influence of Max Talmud on Albert Einstein is overstated here. It seems that Einstein pushed himself rather than getting pushed by Talmud. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein "Einstein excelled at physics and mathematics from an early age, and soon acquired the mathematical expertise normally only found in a child several years his senior. He began teaching himself algebra, calculus and Euclidean geometry when he was twelve; he made such rapid progress that he discovered an original proof of the Pythagorean theorem before his thirteenth birthday. A family tutor, Max Talmud, said that only a short time after he had given the twelve year old Einstein a geometry textbook, the boy "had worked through the whole book. He thereupon devoted himself to higher mathematics ... Soon the flight of his mathematical genius was so high I could not follow."
Re: Why We Stopped Making Einsteins
#30One very different answer to this: we've lost a lot of "boring but living wage" jobs with little to no supervision. Einstein had a lot of time to think and sketch and write formulas at jobs like the Swiss Patent Office. How many jobs do you see around you that you can do that and survive? We've seen an incredible rise in "bullshit jobs" but we've also elevated corporate surveillance to incredible heights and much of…
> Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed.
> He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled.
> And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.
-- Chuck Palahniuk, "Lullaby"