4 ms·

Sorry, but this doesn't scale. You have finite time available, you cannot be a master of everything, and recognizing this and asking for the opinions of those w

Sorry, but this doesn't scale. You have finite time available, you cannot be a master of everything, and recognizing this and asking for the opinions of those who are, is the right way to handle that.

noch 6y ago
> Sorry, but this doesn't scale. As my cello teacher said: the effort is the thing. You probably won't become a master but you have to make the effort. The effort is all. Importantly, everything valuable that is known was once unknown by everybody, including masters. If we don't make the effort, there's no chance of going beyond frontiers. We are left discussing what so-and-so said they think about what so-and-so thinks about what so-and-so wrote about a paper and the author's personality.
- qayxc 6y ago
  > As my cello teacher said: the effort is the thing. You probably won't become a master but you have to make the effort. The effort is all. Stick with playing the cello then. > Importantly, everything valuable that is known was once unknown by everybody, including masters. We as a species are way beyond the point that laymen - no matter their intellectual capacity - can acquire detailed knowledge about every special topic in even just a single scientific area. This isn't as simple as music theory or perfecting motor functions by means of practising. Just to give you an idea of the scale we're talking here: The journal "General Relativity and Gravity" [1] alone published 167 papers in 2019. Yesterday(!) alone, 20 papers were announced on arxiv.org [2] So assuming you already know GR by heart, you'd need to spend every waking minute of your existence just reading up on what's currently being discussed within the community. This leaves absolutely no time for reflection on and understanding the material, let alone working on original ideas. You are delusional if you think that 200 years of modern mathematics, physics and astronomy can be mastered by a single person, let alone an average person, who rarely has the mental capacity to even understand most of the material en detail. [1] https://link.springer.com/journal/10714/volumes-and-issues https://link.springer.com/journal/10714/volumes-and-issues [2] https://arxiv.org/list/gr-qc/new https://arxiv.org/list/gr-qc/new
  - noch 6y ago
    > You are delusional if you think that 200 years of modern mathematics, physics and astronomy can be mastered by a single person, let alone an average person, who rarely has the mental capacity to even understand most of the material en detail. You are delusional if you imagine I said you should master everything. In fact, I said you should make the effort. Recall, John Nash said that in graduate school he had to reinvent 300 years of mathematics for himself? And just how many books did Witten say he studied in a year in graduate school on his own? Try to calm down and question your assumptions. I'm not your enemy. Trying to understand stuff before asking for an opinion is a habit. If you don't practice it, you can't do it, and you shouldn't be surprised if you instead believe that the default should instead be relying on others who practice the habit. Importantly, the habit of doing your own homework is actually a muscle: if you don't strengthen it, it will atrophy or never develop. The stronger it is, the faster working through physics and mathematics and chemistry papers becomes. Perhaps we can do better than our masters from the Renaissance if we try? > Stick with playing the cello then Thanks! That's kind of you to say. It's a struggle but I'm getting there. > This isn't as simple as music theory or perfecting motor functions by means of practising. You think music is simple? You are totally trolling me. I like your sense of humour.

noch 6y ago

> Sorry, but this doesn't scale. As my cello teacher said: the effort is the thing. You probably won't become a master but you have to make the effort. The effort is all. Importantly, everything valuable that is known was once unknown by everybody, including masters. If we don't make the effort, there's no chance of going beyond frontiers. We are left discussing what so-and-so said they think about what so-and-so thinks about what so-and-so wrote about a paper and the author's personality.

qayxc 6y ago
> As my cello teacher said: the effort is the thing. You probably won't become a master but you have to make the effort. The effort is all. Stick with playing the cello then. > Importantly, everything valuable that is known was once unknown by everybody, including masters. We as a species are way beyond the point that laymen - no matter their intellectual capacity - can acquire detailed knowledge about every special topic in even just a single scientific area. This isn't as simple as music theory or perfecting motor functions by means of practising. Just to give you an idea of the scale we're talking here: The journal "General Relativity and Gravity" [1] alone published 167 papers in 2019. Yesterday(!) alone, 20 papers were announced on arxiv.org [2] So assuming you already know GR by heart, you'd need to spend every waking minute of your existence just reading up on what's currently being discussed within the community. This leaves absolutely no time for reflection on and understanding the material, let alone working on original ideas. You are delusional if you think that 200 years of modern mathematics, physics and astronomy can be mastered by a single person, let alone an average person, who rarely has the mental capacity to even understand most of the material en detail. [1] https://link.springer.com/journal/10714/volumes-and-issues https://link.springer.com/journal/10714/volumes-and-issues [2] https://arxiv.org/list/gr-qc/new https://arxiv.org/list/gr-qc/new
- noch 6y ago
  > You are delusional if you think that 200 years of modern mathematics, physics and astronomy can be mastered by a single person, let alone an average person, who rarely has the mental capacity to even understand most of the material en detail. You are delusional if you imagine I said you should master everything. In fact, I said you should make the effort. Recall, John Nash said that in graduate school he had to reinvent 300 years of mathematics for himself? And just how many books did Witten say he studied in a year in graduate school on his own? Try to calm down and question your assumptions. I'm not your enemy. Trying to understand stuff before asking for an opinion is a habit. If you don't practice it, you can't do it, and you shouldn't be surprised if you instead believe that the default should instead be relying on others who practice the habit. Importantly, the habit of doing your own homework is actually a muscle: if you don't strengthen it, it will atrophy or never develop. The stronger it is, the faster working through physics and mathematics and chemistry papers becomes. Perhaps we can do better than our masters from the Renaissance if we try? > Stick with playing the cello then Thanks! That's kind of you to say. It's a struggle but I'm getting there. > This isn't as simple as music theory or perfecting motor functions by means of practising. You think music is simple? You are totally trolling me. I like your sense of humour.