4 ms·
> “Mike said, ‘Justin, you’re going to get me thinking about this problem again and I don’t want to do that,’” said Gilmer. This is a very relatable feeling. I
by thethirdone 4y ago
> “Mike said, ‘Justin, you’re going to get me thinking about this problem again and I don’t want to do that,’” said Gilmer.
This is a very relatable feeling. I often find myself getting trapped into thinking about problems I am unlikely to solve.
- moritonal 4y agoYep, same. About once a year I get sucked for a day or so into the Noita Eye Messages puzzle (https://noita.fandom.com/wiki/Eye_Messages https://noita.fandom.com/wiki/Eye_Messages).
- chaps 4y agoOh lordy, same. I personally can't wait for someone else to solve it.
- LAC-Tech 4y agoJust do what I do, focus on easy problems! Doesn't take that long but you feel great anyway.
- aliqot 4y agoI have 3, personally. One day.. ONE DAY.. I will make the elusive perfect deep dish crust. One family can only eat so much pizza though, so you just have to let it go. If it's gonna happen then it'll happen.
- jebarker 4y agoI find that one of the hardest parts of doing research is knowing when to give up on a problem
- tills13 4y agoI find it's a cruel trick people, usually inadvertently, play on me at work: "when you've got a sec can you look at x?" There's a portion of my brain that's immediately hijacked and starts thinking about the problem whether I'm actively working on it or not. Happens to me for work problems outside of work, too. I'll just be chilling in the shower or something and suddenly I'm thinking about a work problem. Maybe one day I'll retire from programming and do something less theoretical e.g. driving a semi.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- chris_overseas 4y agoThe obligatory XKCD https://xkcd.com/356/ https://xkcd.com/356/
- tpurves 4y agoDamn you! Now all I can think about is that xkcd problem.
- dekhn 4y agoThat's taken from the Google Labs Aptitude test, IIRC it's a simplification of https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9909120 https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9909120 with solution here https://mathworld.wolfram.com/news/2004-10-13/google/ https://mathworld.wolfram.com/news/2004-10-13/google/
- hgsgm 4y agoBad idea. Don't drive and derive. You'll be driven to distraction and crash.
- jihadjihad 4y agoReminds me of the multi-armed bandit problem, where Allied scientists considered it to be so intractable that they proposed dropping it over Germany so their scientists would waste their time on it.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- balsam 4y agoThe randomized version of nerd-sniping, nerd-bombing.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- marktangotango 4y ago> This is a very relatable feeling. I often find myself getting trapped into thinking about problems I am unlikely to solve. I have this problem as well. The most disturbing thing is retracing old paths to dead ends without realizing it. Here I mean internal mental models, but also applies to previously known results I just wasn't familiar with, and don't turn up unless specific phrases are known.