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> It's a Brownian motion of small incremental innovations, until eventually we stumble upon something big (like deep learning). Is the deep learning really the
by tracyhenry 6y ago
> It's a Brownian motion of small incremental innovations, until eventually we stumble upon something big (like deep learning).
Is the deep learning really the result of incremental research? The SOTA chasing frenzy comes after the discovery of deep learning. The motivation of incremental research can hardly be justified as to discover the next deep learning, although they might do.
- b3kart 6y agoOf course it is, if we agree that incremental research isn't necessarily "SOTA chasing". Deep learning, and in fact all scientific breakthroughs, did not materialize out of nowhere. They're a culmination of a long sequence of scientific papers (some more incremental than others), conference presentations, poster sessions, hallway conversations, even coffee chats. It's not some dude disappearing into the forest for a few years and coming back with a revolutionary idea (maybe in movies). Everything that helped shape the scientist's thinking has contributed to the idea, even if sometimes the idea is so revolutionary that it's hard to see the direct link. Besides, show me a scientific paper with no references. :-) It's a shame that this is rarely acknowledged and more often than not we talk about "that guy who invented X and got a Nobel prize for it". But us mere mortals can take solace in knowing that even if we didn't change the world with our own ideas, it's possible that we've influenced someone who has.
- BlueTemplar 6y agoWhat does SOTA means ? "State of the Art" ?
- b3kart 6y agoYes. Alternatively, “look, ma, my number is the biggest number”. Apologise for the sass, just not very happy that SOTA chasing is often discouraging original contributions that would actually move the field forward.