4 ms·
> Do you have a link to this paper on arXiv? This part was sarcasm.
by otp124 8y ago
> Do you have a link to this paper on arXiv?
This part was sarcasm.
- dsnuh 8y agoIt was a strange context switch if it was sarcasm...
- ballenf 8y agoIt was self-deprecating humor aimed at acknowledging that all parents are pretty sure their children are the smartest humans to have ever walked the earth. At least that was my reading and it gave me a chuckle.
- dmix 8y agoBasically an "apple falling on Newton's head = discovered gravity" kind of story people eat up about invention and science. Which always seems to gloss over the endless hard work and constant failure and self-doubt they went through. Plus the incidental ancillary work done in related fields which helped spawn the initial seeds. Although there may be a useful metaphor here that the solutions are often easier or more "obvious" than they seem, and people often get lost in the details and busywork, missing the forest for the trees. So having a simple (but receptive) wall to bounce ideas off of (such as a 6yr old) helps break through the noise to focus on core / fundamental / primitive ideas from which more complex breakthroughs spawn.
- dsnuh 8y agoMy apologies, I was just slow on the uptake, and this being HN, although I was incredulous, I was also fully prepared for you to come back with a link! I get the joke, now that I know it was a joke. You never know who's on the other side of the wire, and for all I know you might have some genius kid. My 5 year old is into Nerf guns and Mario, but again, this _is_ HN... Anyway, I'll take my downvotes and move on. Thanks for sharing the story, I might try explaining it like this to my kids! Edit: oops thought I was replying to jawns