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>When you approach a problem, you should do it in a way that mirrors the scientific method. I find this fascinating. We've had centuries of great scientists so
by winchling 8y ago
>When you approach a problem, you should do it in a way that mirrors the scientific method.
I find this fascinating. We've had centuries of great scientists solving difficult problems but we don't really know how people perceive problems in the first place. It isn't a trivial skill: many people apparently can't see them. They become distressed when a contradiction between accepted ideas is pointed out and usually try to jump to a non-solution. Yet a few, e.g. Professors and PhD supervisors, can reliably identify subtle and important problems. Even if they can't solve them.
- aidenn0 8y agoPeople adapt to their environment very quickly. This makes problems fade into the background. As a software developer, here's an interesting experiment: Pick 100 bugfix commits from source control. Read each one and try to find bins for each bug. You may find that a very large fraction (often more than half) fit into a bin for which a very small change to tooling or process could prevent. That change hasn't made because having this type of bug is "normal"
- winchling 8y agoInteresting!
- yesenadam 8y agoBret Victor's Inventing on Principle talks a fair bit about how the greats don't solve what are thought to be the pre-existing problems of their field, but find solutions for problems no-one else even realized was a problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUv66718DII https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUv66718DII The genius is a genius by the first look he casts on any object. Is his eye creative? – Emerson, Representative Men (That seems related to Emerson's remark that though he didn't have a musical ear, he had musical eyes. I like that.)
- winchling 8y agoThanks!