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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

#61

Post by imtringued »

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'm not sure this is true?

3. is more like this: You've been through 2. so many times now that it is hard to get excited about new things anymore.

Enough time has passed that some of the things you've been excited for have failed or had negative consequences. You'll stick to the things that worked in 2. and are skeptical of things that have yet to prove themselves.

In your 3., things from 2. are accepted unconditionally despite failures, making 3. inherently irrational.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#62

Post by kubb »

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…

Folks! This is a quip from a novelist! Take it with a grain of salt. It has to be punchy, not accurate.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#63

Post by mettamage »

kubb wrote: post #62
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…

Folks! This is a quip from a novelist! Take it with a grain of salt. It has to be punchy, not accurate.

This comment helped to kick my "but but but!" instinct to the curb, haha. Thanks :)

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#64

Post by lccerina »

vjk800 wrote: post #59
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…

> 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. This is how TV broadcasts also work, though. You could even argue there's an algorithm behind TV broadcasts too - it's just a kinda poor human-run algorithm trying to maximize viewer numbers. Unlike many people…

With the (somehow sadly) added value that the TV broadcast algorithm is kinda known by everyone (morning programs, prime time etc), and that if there wasn't nothing interesting to watch, we would just do something else.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#65

Post by Ekaros »

nephihaha wrote: post #23
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…

Ironically the article claims scientists become less radical as they get older. I suppose it depends what you consider radical.

Radical in their area of expertise. If you have spend decades building certain mental models and then theoretical models that most likely work well(as you were rewarded for them) you are likely get stuck in following those.

Does not mean you have well working models outside these. Or that those same models will work well in entirely distinct contexes.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#66

Post by GTP »

ceejayoz wrote: post #4
Animats wrote: post #2

Einstein spent his later career trying to reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics. He failed. So has everyone after him. It's not about Einstein being old. It's that it's a really hard problem.

Not a physicist, so this may be a dumb question… but do we even know for sure it’s a problem with a solution?

According to Sabine Hossefelder, there's no scientific basis to expect that a theory of everything exists (if I remember correctly this blog post) [1]. But I also have to say that, while I do find interesting what she talks about and I agree with her about some problems in academia she often complains about, for this very reason some other physicists don't like her and say she's wrong. But my understanding is that she still gets the Physics and Math parts right, it is her complaints about academia that some academics strongly disagree with.

[1] https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2020/07/do-we-need-theory-...

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#68

Post by sublimefire »

Surely we want impact to be seen in our lives and not after our funeral. In such a case it is easier to think about huge things in the first part of the career as attainable, but later in life you might have 15 years left for which you will optimize your chosen battle to be able to see it to fruition.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#69

Post by silvestrov »

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.

A lot of boomers thinks windmills are against the natural order and will end the world.

Also solar parks are just the most ugly thing in the world. They must be banned.

Re: As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

#70

Post by everdrive »

It seems obvious to me that younger people are more predisposed towards building their reputation (and taking some serious risk to do so) and older people are more predisposed towards maintaining what they've built. This feels like a pretty standard evolutionary psychology approach. It's not as if no one can disrupt in their older years, but in general people get more cautious as they get older. They're less interested in offending and upsetting, and less prone to intentionally diving into the most divisive topics.
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