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The line between "playing with ideas" and "working on ideas" is blurred for those who find those ideas fascinating (who, I believe, are heavily overrepresented
by waterhouse 7y ago
The line between "playing with ideas" and "working on ideas" is blurred for those who find those ideas fascinating (who, I believe, are heavily overrepresented among top scientists). If you define "work" to mean "making yourself do something you don't intrinsically enjoy", then, yeah, many of them probably didn't work hard. But if you count the hours they spent thinking about their scientific or mathematical ideas, then I think you'll find that's often a very high number among the greats like Newton.
- gmueckl 7y agoThis is one part of the distinction. Work usually involves locking oneself up on a sterile, isolating work environment. This is good for the menial parts of scientific work. But there is a creative side to science. This is the seemingly lazy part where you need relax and let your mind wander. If you enjoy the problem you are trying to solve, your thoughts just naturally revolve around it even when you are not technically at work. And it is a different, probably less structured process from focussing on a certain path to a solution. And that is why it is so important.