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I love this idea. You don’t need to be at the top 1% of a field to do cool innovate stuff, just be good at two or three different fields and see what happens wh

by exdsq 5y ago

I love this idea. You don’t need to be at the top 1% of a field to do cool innovate stuff, just be good at two or three different fields and see what happens when you combine them. Currently going down this rabbit hole with computational archaeology and having a whale of a time :)

npsimons 5y ago
> just be good at two or three different fields and see what happens when you combine them. "Jack of all trades, master of some." That's been my goal for most of my life.
- warrenm 5y ago
  The 300+ year-old quote is "A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one" Too often, we cut the first part off, and it sounds horrible! The whole quote is highly insightful
amatic 5y ago
Computational archeology sounds great, what do you do? Is there more demand?
- exdsq 5y ago
  It’s pretty fun! The field goes from ML image analysis on artifacts, such as trying to identify artists in pottery, through to satellite image analysis, LIDAR scanning, ancient DNA analysis. My friend does underwater archaeology in Japan and spends his time scuba diving and writing code to analyze the images he gets. I was keen on the field because it lets you get out the office for a few months a year for fieldwork. However I’m new to this so there’s a lot more for me to learn still! Starting an archaeology undergrad (distance learning) while working with a few research groups helping them with code in exchange for archaeology experience atm. The best bit is some of the groups use languages like Haskell so the work itself, from a purely programming perspective, is interesting too!
wittycardio 5y ago
This is complete bs, real innovation happens exclusively in the top 1 percent of the field. This is just coolaid that some people like to drink to de emphasize the value of real skill and inflate their own egos.
- dr_awkward 5y ago
  *Kool-aid, you 1%-er.
  - warrenm 5y ago
    guess it depends on whether it's the Jim Jones version, or the stuff that aids you in being cool ;)
- JJzD 5y ago
  Some of the innovation indeed happens at the edges of what we know, and we learn as human species collectively. But most innovation is about combining multiple fields, and cross pollinate new ideas. Especially in the business world, where there is no unsolved problem, everything has been seen before, and most of us are just paid to get to the solution fastest. Applying knowledge from other fields, can be a great benefit.
- pcmoney 5y ago
  They aren't talking about innovation but productivity. The OP asked "what bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers" this should hold true at whatever percentile of a field you chose, top 1%, 10% etc. However, it should be noted that the top 1% of innovators in a given field often do not understand the impact of their innovation on a multi-disciplinary or business context.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- throwaway684936 5y ago
  It depends. Real innovation in art software for example could only be done by someone who is highly skilled and experienced in both artistry and software engineering and has an very open mind when it comes to design. You get get things like Sonic Pi from people who are both musicians and developers.

by exdsq 5y ago

npsimons 5y ago

> just be good at two or three different fields and see what happens when you combine them. "Jack of all trades, master of some." That's been my goal for most of my life.

warrenm 5y ago
The 300+ year-old quote is "A Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one" Too often, we cut the first part off, and it sounds horrible! The whole quote is highly insightful

amatic 5y ago

Computational archeology sounds great, what do you do? Is there more demand?

exdsq 5y ago
It’s pretty fun! The field goes from ML image analysis on artifacts, such as trying to identify artists in pottery, through to satellite image analysis, LIDAR scanning, ancient DNA analysis. My friend does underwater archaeology in Japan and spends his time scuba diving and writing code to analyze the images he gets. I was keen on the field because it lets you get out the office for a few months a year for fieldwork. However I’m new to this so there’s a lot more for me to learn still! Starting an archaeology undergrad (distance learning) while working with a few research groups helping them with code in exchange for archaeology experience atm. The best bit is some of the groups use languages like Haskell so the work itself, from a purely programming perspective, is interesting too!

wittycardio 5y ago

This is complete bs, real innovation happens exclusively in the top 1 percent of the field. This is just coolaid that some people like to drink to de emphasize the value of real skill and inflate their own egos.

dr_awkward 5y ago
*Kool-aid, you 1%-er.
- warrenm 5y ago
  guess it depends on whether it's the Jim Jones version, or the stuff that aids you in being cool ;)
JJzD 5y ago
Some of the innovation indeed happens at the edges of what we know, and we learn as human species collectively. But most innovation is about combining multiple fields, and cross pollinate new ideas. Especially in the business world, where there is no unsolved problem, everything has been seen before, and most of us are just paid to get to the solution fastest. Applying knowledge from other fields, can be a great benefit.
pcmoney 5y ago
They aren't talking about innovation but productivity. The OP asked "what bits of fundamental knowledge are productivity multipliers" this should hold true at whatever percentile of a field you chose, top 1%, 10% etc. However, it should be noted that the top 1% of innovators in a given field often do not understand the impact of their innovation on a multi-disciplinary or business context.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
throwaway684936 5y ago
It depends. Real innovation in art software for example could only be done by someone who is highly skilled and experienced in both artistry and software engineering and has an very open mind when it comes to design. You get get things like Sonic Pi from people who are both musicians and developers.