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Uh, I disagree? Some of the best scientific discoveries of the 2000s came from insights found in old papers (50s, 60s, 70s). For example, optogenetics. And now

Uh, I disagree? Some of the best scientific discoveries of the 2000s came from insights found in old papers (50s, 60s, 70s). For example, optogenetics. And now with Transformers, Hopfield learning and continuous Hebbian dynamics are making a small comeback. I mean, sure, don't implement the paper verbatim, but it's depressing to discard decades worth of work and insights only to rebuild it all again. Our disregard for past 'unsexy' work is one of the largest inefficiencies in science, hands down.

melenaboija 6y ago
The comment starts with "Unless you are a researcher...". If you are a practitioner you are just trying to use the result of some research that someone else has done before, mostly to not have to do that research again. Sure this result is possible thanks to revisiting old ideas, but using it does not mean you are discarding anything.