3 ms·
Ask HN: Is There an Inverse Correlation Between Ambition and Skill?
Because from what I've noticed in online communities, it always seems like the people with the least skill at anything tend to be those coming up with the most outlandish and impossible ideas for projects, whereas those with said skills seem rather uninterested in actually doing anything flashy with them.
Is that a pattern overall? And why would being good at something (like say, programming or art) make you less interested in wanting to the change via it?
- kotharia 8y agoPart of the reason may related to the Dunning-Kruger effect - the people who have less skill and experience in a field literally lack the skills to be aware of their level of competence. "Why can't you just ...?" is probably something the competent have already considered, but to the neophyte it seems like a new inspiration (and they don't have the depth of understanding to see the limitations). Questions like: Why don't you make it cheaper for people to live by enforcing rent controls? Why don't you motivate people by giving monetary rewards/punishments? are often asked by people who don't understand the flow-on effects ("unintended consequences") that their proposed easy solutions to complex problems might have. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton#Chesterton's_fence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton#Chesterton's_...
- newman8r 8y agoThere seem to be some advantages of being a highly curious/motivated novice. Any time I pick up a new activity, I tend to get a lot of new ideas that could be applied to the problems I'm experiencing for the first time. Novices also have the advantage of being able to better empathize with other newcomers to a given field - this could potentially open up a technology to a wider market.