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An idea doesn't have to be practical and it certainly doesn't have to be immediately practical. I think useful is a locally greedy optimization and that is not
by CalChris 8y ago
An idea doesn't have to be practical and it certainly doesn't have to be immediately practical. I think useful is a locally greedy optimization and that is not in itself at all bad. I just think that an idea might be able to take you a little further, sometime, just not right now.
- michaelmior 8y agoThat's a fair point. I probably overemphasized the word practical in my original comment. I didn't mean immediately practical. (I assume you meant "doesn't" in your comment.) And I do agree that even ideas or systems which perform poorly could be imminently useful. But I personally find looking at measurements helpful to give me some sense as to whether or not the approach being proposed is suitable for solving problems I care about.
- CalChris 8y agoFor example, if you are reading the classic papers in a seminar, are you really even interested in their measurements? Well, if you are looking forward at new papers, I think the ideas come first. Remember, there's a ton of stuff to read. A buddy said he read two papers a day in grad school.
- irishsultan 8y agoIf you're reading classic papers then presumably they've already proven themselves worthy (by being considered classic)
- michaelmior 8y agoExactly. The thought process I go through in evaluating a new paper is certainly different from when I am reading older, proven work. But in both cases, I still personally care about the measurements.
- gnat 8y agoI think you meant "doesn't have to be immediately practical".