6 ms·
In my masters thesis I used following quote: > On mathematical perception: “either you have no inkling of an idea or, once you have understood it, this very id
by madsbuch 6y ago
In my masters thesis I used following quote:
> On mathematical perception: “either you have no inkling of an idea or, once you have understood it, this very idea appears so embarrassingly obvious that you feel reluctant to say it aloud; moreover, once your mind switches from the state of darkness to the light, all memory of the dark state is erased and it becomes impossible to conceive the existence of another mind for which the idea appears nonobvious.”
- tmaly 6y agoThe Curse of Knowledge is shorthand way of putting this.
- tunesmith 6y agoThere are some concepts I have the opposite experience of: I find it fascinating, I start pulling threads, I come to all sorts of wildly interesting insights, I construct it together into something I can easily talk about and explain, I explain it to others, and they nod and respond "of course" as if it were already obvious to them. Sort of feels like Principia Mathematica and 2+2 (although that's a very extreme case).
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- etiam 6y agoSeems like an important phenomenon to note. Maybe somewhat tempered by the one described in: Weierstrass' “When I wrote this, only God and I understood what I was doing. Now, God only knows.”
- high_byte 6y agothis applies to half of my notes from 6+ months ago. why am I so cryptic with note taking?
- voiper1 6y agoWhen I take notes and program, I try to remember that I'll look back at this and know nothing. Will I be able to rederive the entire context in my mind at this moment? I don't know if this is perfect, but I've caught myself many times adding more context.
- taliesinb 6y agoWho is the author of that quote?
- avdlinde 6y agoMikhail Gromov, quoted in M. Berger, Encounter with a geometer. II http://www.ams.org/notices/200003/fea-berger.pdf http://www.ams.org/notices/200003/fea-berger.pdf
- SAI_Peregrinus 6y agoGromov was my father's thesis advisor. From what I know, he seems an extremely intelligent and insightful person. Sadly I've never had a chance to meet him.
- acoard 6y agoMy friend once called this the "curse of knowledge," but I misheard him and thought he was talking about "cursive knowledge." I still kinda like that name.
- dorkwood 6y agoA mistake I often make when explaining things is to leave out a lot of the "obvious" stuff, for fear of talking down to the person. I've learned that it's often the obvious things that most need to be said.