4 ms·

Research as leisure activity

189 points by gmays 2y ago

Sakos 2y ago
I'm sort of disappointed that this isn't actually about research as leisure activity. I love to learn about topics in-depth, which will entail going through all kinds of literature and scientific papers to see what We've collectively learned about a particular topic. It's basically my replacement for reading novels in my free time. I guess it's not real research in an academic sense, but I try my best to be thorough and systematically go through the papers in detail (more or less, since in the end reading and learning to read papers is an art that can be practiced and refined).
- runeblaze 2y ago
  Reading papers is absolutely part of academic research. The other part is probably producing things and submitting to journals/conferences advancing things based on what one has read (and hopefully having a day job that pays for the publication fees and travel fees...)
  - Sakos 2y ago
    Yes, definitely. But I feel doing research is more associated either with the fringe that is anti-science or academics who are actually doing science and publishing papers. I'm under no illusion that I'm doing anything akin to what a scientist does, but I also don't mean "doing my own research" as some shorthand for being skeptical of all the world's news media and the scientific establishment.
- magneticnorth 2y ago
  It does start out touting a particular piece of software, but the last section, "What does doing research for leisure mean?" does go into research as a leisure activity, and the author promises more posts on the topic in the future. I'm with you, I really enjoy learning just for the sake of learning and feel very lucky that I get to live now, when there is almost always a rich lode of existing research that I can read on almost any topic that strikes my curiosity.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > when there is almost always a rich lode of existing research Yes! And it highlights how people these days aren't any smarter than the people in times gone by. We just have a greater pile of existing knowledge to mine.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  I, too, love doing in-depth research of things as a recreational activity. Particularly things that are outside of my sphere of competency. I also end up writing essays about what I've discovered, basically as a means of having some sort of "goal" for the research.
- cableshaft 2y ago
  Where do you like to go to find and read those research papers? I've been curious about this off and on but don't really know where to hunt down papers beyond the ocassional random one I get linked to.
  - Rediscover 2y ago
    It used to be the nearest university (especially if they have an adjoining curriculum), sometimes a local business. Don't be afraid of microfiche for older pubs. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself. I still find libraries pretty useful while simultaneously being amazed at the quantity of papers online - I have found papers I would have nearly killed for decades ago now online at faculty pages of my favorite researchers. I'm guessing online is better for most, especially when coupled with browsing faculty pages for the author of your random linked papers. Also, look for citations listings that include authors of papers You like (it's printed and at your local research/eng lib for older obscure authors). Before Eternal September and still today (though maybe less?), sending an intro email to someone that is studying a subject You are interested in is often useful (possibly better for niches). I'm guilty of not responding in a timely manner. Probably Semi-OT: look at some indexes for CoEvolution Quarterly.
    - JohnFen 2y ago
      > Don't be afraid of microfiche for older pubs A million times this, and the value of libraries. There is a vast amount of information online, but the amount that isn't is still even greater.
  - Sakos 2y ago
    I generally use sci-hub to get any paper I want to read. It's not quite legal, but I feel locking the world's knowledge behind paywalls is so immoral that I honestly do it with some measure of satisfaction.
- gessha 2y ago
  You are doing research, it’s just the first stage of it. From a computer vision perspective, the steps are 1) pick up a topic 2) do a literature review 3) establish a baseline and state of the art 4) improve upon model until you beat state of the art or find something interesting and unusual 5) publish
mistermann 2y ago
Very interesting, this seems like a potential source of great power.
- fuzzfactor 2y ago
  It did so for some of the "gentleman scientists" of previous centuries.
wslh 2y ago
At [1] the first chapter is "The Computer Revolution Hasn't Happened Yet". I think it continues to be valid, we are currently amazed about AI but we need to keep our eyes open for more. [1] https://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/01.html#Chap01 https://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/01.html#Chap01
nico 2y ago
Are there publications for “research as a leisure activity”? Somewhere where I can read what “amateurs” are researching in their free time? There’s a few channels I follow on YouTube, but they all seem to be living off of the content they produce I’m curious about communities of people with scientific inclinations, doing experiments of interesting things “at home”
- t_mann 2y ago
  You seem to equate research as a leisure activity with amateur research. If you read 'leisure' simply as 'outside your main, bread-earning job', then it absolutely can be cutting edge research published in peer-reviewed outlets. It's not even that uncommon, look for people who have a university affiliation (that isn't just teaching) as a side gig. And that's just one way you could be pursing serious research outside your main job, you don't even need a university affiliation - it's certainly helpful with access to resources, feedback, ideas (and, let's be honest, it probably helps with visibility/credibility too), but it's not strictly necessary. As a different example, there are some (rare) examples where legitimate mathematical results were discovered by hobbyists going completely on their own. I also remember a documentary about a crew of retirees, including former physics professors and a precision mechanics engineer, who were performing physics experiments of masses at extremely low accelerations to test some limits of special relativity iirc - which in itself was technically the result of 'leisure research', like several of Einstein's most famous discoveries. If it's something you're interested in, my suggestion would be to decide on a rough area and then seek out experts to brainstorm ideas for a suitable problem for you to work on, maybe one that leverages your existing skills in a creative way (like the engineer in the above example).
  - gehwartzen 2y ago
    > look for people who have a university affiliation (that isn't just teaching) as a side gig. Can you expand on this? Like people who have full time jobs in perhaps a different field but do research on the side using the facilities/resources of a university? If so how does one slide into a gig like that?
mark_l_watson 2y ago
That is a beautiful article, but if you are time constrained skip 1/4 down to the definition of research as leisure activity. I felt like the author was describing me in the paragraph: “”” I’d also say that pretty much every writer, essayist, “cultural critic,” etc—especially someone who’s writing more as a vocation than a profession—has research as their leisure activity. What they do for pleasure (reading books, seeing films, listening to music) shades naturally and inevitably into what they want to write about, and the things they consume for leisure end up incorporated into some written work.”””
freilanzer 2y ago
Has anyone used are.na? It's mentioned in the first paragraph.
abpavel 2y ago
[flagged]
- resource_waste 2y ago
  It also might be a way to create a purpose to live in a world that is absent of purpose. Nietzsche would strongly disagree, but between Darwinism and utilitarianism, I find science has a utility for living in the present.
greekanalyst 2y ago
We need a radical recalibration/rethink of what research is and how it should be done in the 21st century. There are way too many gatekeepers, far too little creativity and a lot of manufactured noise.
- natpalmer1776 2y ago
  If things had gone slightly differently for me, I would be a neuro-psychiatric medical researcher right now instead of a programmer. As it stands I write code to pay bills because I lacked the money to go to college, and (thankfully) the experience necessary to know how to get the student loans necessary to pay for any of the pre-med programs I was accepted to. Having lived past the age of 25 and feeling my mind settle down I can say with the utmost confidence I would make a terrible researcher. I'm far too erratic and emotionally invested in my ideas, among many other personal traits I've come to acknowledge. HOWEVER, if I had been able to pay for college, I would have pursued an academic career because that's what everyone said you should do as I went through the public school system. Which of course makes me wonder how many people are writing papers and performing research because that's just what you do when you're smart and how many are actually adept at performing research and conducting scientific experimentation?
craftuser 2y ago
One of the things that stands in the way of this (for me) is that I've been out of academia for nearly ten years. I never even got verified for submitting CS pre-prints https://arxiv.org/ https://arxiv.org/ for example, which I should have done before leaving school.

189 points by gmays 2y ago

I'm sort of disappointed that this isn't actually about research as leisure activity. I love to learn about topics in-depth, which will entail going through all kinds of literature and scientific papers to see what We've collectively learned about a particular topic. It's basically my replacement for reading novels in my free time. I guess it's not real research in an academic sense, but I try my best to be thorough and systematically go through the papers in detail (more or less, since in the end reading and learning to read papers is an art that can be practiced and refined).

runeblaze 2y ago
Reading papers is absolutely part of academic research. The other part is probably producing things and submitting to journals/conferences advancing things based on what one has read (and hopefully having a day job that pays for the publication fees and travel fees...)
- Sakos 2y ago
  Yes, definitely. But I feel doing research is more associated either with the fringe that is anti-science or academics who are actually doing science and publishing papers. I'm under no illusion that I'm doing anything akin to what a scientist does, but I also don't mean "doing my own research" as some shorthand for being skeptical of all the world's news media and the scientific establishment.
magneticnorth 2y ago
It does start out touting a particular piece of software, but the last section, "What does doing research for leisure mean?" does go into research as a leisure activity, and the author promises more posts on the topic in the future. I'm with you, I really enjoy learning just for the sake of learning and feel very lucky that I get to live now, when there is almost always a rich lode of existing research that I can read on almost any topic that strikes my curiosity.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  > when there is almost always a rich lode of existing research Yes! And it highlights how people these days aren't any smarter than the people in times gone by. We just have a greater pile of existing knowledge to mine.
JohnFen 2y ago
I, too, love doing in-depth research of things as a recreational activity. Particularly things that are outside of my sphere of competency. I also end up writing essays about what I've discovered, basically as a means of having some sort of "goal" for the research.
cableshaft 2y ago
Where do you like to go to find and read those research papers? I've been curious about this off and on but don't really know where to hunt down papers beyond the ocassional random one I get linked to.
- Rediscover 2y ago
  It used to be the nearest university (especially if they have an adjoining curriculum), sometimes a local business. Don't be afraid of microfiche for older pubs. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself. I still find libraries pretty useful while simultaneously being amazed at the quantity of papers online - I have found papers I would have nearly killed for decades ago now online at faculty pages of my favorite researchers. I'm guessing online is better for most, especially when coupled with browsing faculty pages for the author of your random linked papers. Also, look for citations listings that include authors of papers You like (it's printed and at your local research/eng lib for older obscure authors). Before Eternal September and still today (though maybe less?), sending an intro email to someone that is studying a subject You are interested in is often useful (possibly better for niches). I'm guilty of not responding in a timely manner. Probably Semi-OT: look at some indexes for CoEvolution Quarterly.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    > Don't be afraid of microfiche for older pubs A million times this, and the value of libraries. There is a vast amount of information online, but the amount that isn't is still even greater.
- Sakos 2y ago
  I generally use sci-hub to get any paper I want to read. It's not quite legal, but I feel locking the world's knowledge behind paywalls is so immoral that I honestly do it with some measure of satisfaction.
gessha 2y ago
You are doing research, it’s just the first stage of it. From a computer vision perspective, the steps are 1) pick up a topic 2) do a literature review 3) establish a baseline and state of the art 4) improve upon model until you beat state of the art or find something interesting and unusual 5) publish

mistermann 2y ago

Very interesting, this seems like a potential source of great power.

fuzzfactor 2y ago
It did so for some of the "gentleman scientists" of previous centuries.

wslh 2y ago

At [1] the first chapter is "The Computer Revolution Hasn't Happened Yet". I think it continues to be valid, we are currently amazed about AI but we need to keep our eyes open for more. [1] https://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/01.html#Chap01 https://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/01.html#Chap01

nico 2y ago

Are there publications for “research as a leisure activity”? Somewhere where I can read what “amateurs” are researching in their free time? There’s a few channels I follow on YouTube, but they all seem to be living off of the content they produce I’m curious about communities of people with scientific inclinations, doing experiments of interesting things “at home”

t_mann 2y ago
You seem to equate research as a leisure activity with amateur research. If you read 'leisure' simply as 'outside your main, bread-earning job', then it absolutely can be cutting edge research published in peer-reviewed outlets. It's not even that uncommon, look for people who have a university affiliation (that isn't just teaching) as a side gig. And that's just one way you could be pursing serious research outside your main job, you don't even need a university affiliation - it's certainly helpful with access to resources, feedback, ideas (and, let's be honest, it probably helps with visibility/credibility too), but it's not strictly necessary. As a different example, there are some (rare) examples where legitimate mathematical results were discovered by hobbyists going completely on their own. I also remember a documentary about a crew of retirees, including former physics professors and a precision mechanics engineer, who were performing physics experiments of masses at extremely low accelerations to test some limits of special relativity iirc - which in itself was technically the result of 'leisure research', like several of Einstein's most famous discoveries. If it's something you're interested in, my suggestion would be to decide on a rough area and then seek out experts to brainstorm ideas for a suitable problem for you to work on, maybe one that leverages your existing skills in a creative way (like the engineer in the above example).
- gehwartzen 2y ago
  > look for people who have a university affiliation (that isn't just teaching) as a side gig. Can you expand on this? Like people who have full time jobs in perhaps a different field but do research on the side using the facilities/resources of a university? If so how does one slide into a gig like that?

mark_l_watson 2y ago

That is a beautiful article, but if you are time constrained skip 1/4 down to the definition of research as leisure activity. I felt like the author was describing me in the paragraph: “”” I’d also say that pretty much every writer, essayist, “cultural critic,” etc—especially someone who’s writing more as a vocation than a profession—has research as their leisure activity. What they do for pleasure (reading books, seeing films, listening to music) shades naturally and inevitably into what they want to write about, and the things they consume for leisure end up incorporated into some written work.”””

freilanzer 2y ago

Has anyone used are.na? It's mentioned in the first paragraph.

abpavel 2y ago

[flagged]

resource_waste 2y ago
It also might be a way to create a purpose to live in a world that is absent of purpose. Nietzsche would strongly disagree, but between Darwinism and utilitarianism, I find science has a utility for living in the present.

greekanalyst 2y ago

We need a radical recalibration/rethink of what research is and how it should be done in the 21st century. There are way too many gatekeepers, far too little creativity and a lot of manufactured noise.

natpalmer1776 2y ago
If things had gone slightly differently for me, I would be a neuro-psychiatric medical researcher right now instead of a programmer. As it stands I write code to pay bills because I lacked the money to go to college, and (thankfully) the experience necessary to know how to get the student loans necessary to pay for any of the pre-med programs I was accepted to. Having lived past the age of 25 and feeling my mind settle down I can say with the utmost confidence I would make a terrible researcher. I'm far too erratic and emotionally invested in my ideas, among many other personal traits I've come to acknowledge. HOWEVER, if I had been able to pay for college, I would have pursued an academic career because that's what everyone said you should do as I went through the public school system. Which of course makes me wonder how many people are writing papers and performing research because that's just what you do when you're smart and how many are actually adept at performing research and conducting scientific experimentation?

craftuser 2y ago

One of the things that stands in the way of this (for me) is that I've been out of academia for nearly ten years. I never even got verified for submitting CS pre-prints https://arxiv.org/ https://arxiv.org/ for example, which I should have done before leaving school.