3 ms·
People tend to underestimate the age of working knowledge a lot. Shazam wasn't an original invention, similar things were implemented in hardware in the 80s, a
by sho_hn 9y ago
People tend to underestimate the age of working knowledge a lot.
Shazam wasn't an original invention, similar things were implemented in hardware in the 80s, and original research in this area done even much earlier.
Sure, though, as you go back in time, the probability that the environment you could get exposed to that knowledge in overlaps with academic circles probably increases.
- whistlerbrk 9y agoSeriously, consider that the PARC people were working on perceptrons decades before they became truly feasible. There is almost always prior art to build on. The most valuable engineering skill I find is the ability to say "I've run into a problem, I am not the first person to run into this, let me research how other people solved similar problems so I can understand my problem and it's edges better".