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> Some of the best research ... has come from surprisingly young people. ... They're not afraid of looking stupid. Young people aren't doing things without wor

> Some of the best research ... has come from surprisingly young people. ... They're not afraid of looking stupid. Young people aren't doing things without worrying about looking stupid, they just don't know that they look stupid. I say that as a former young person who was way more naive than I thought I was at the time. This is good and bad. Also I think this point ignores that as people grow in their careers they often become more highly leveraged. I've moved from writing code to coaching others who write code. It is very normal for much of the "important" stuff to be done by relatively young people, but this understates the influence from more experienced people.

eucyclos 7mo ago
There's also the fact that there's a lot less social pressure for young people not to look stupid. If you're the senior subject matter expert and get a question you can't answer, people still expect you to make an educated guess. The junior guy they expect to ask someone.
- iamflimflam1 7mo ago
  The sign of true subject matter expert is someone who has the confidence to say when they don’t know the answer.
  - chris_money202 7mo ago
    Sounds more like the sign of just a humble, honest person
  - bonoboTP 7mo ago
    Yes, but that better not be all the time, and around basic questions.
  - jodrellblank 7mo ago
    input(“ask me any question”) print(“I don’t know”) behold, Plato’s PhD level expert on any topic.
    - iamflimflam1 7mo ago
      It’s missing the line for “if I don’t know the answer”
      - jodrellblank 7mo ago
        It always doesn't know the answer, there's no branching possible, so no need for a branch test. By your definition that makes it a "true subject matter expert" on every subject. Although if you squint a bit, it does look rather like a plucked chicken. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous_-_Diogenes_brings_a_plucked_chicken_to_Plato.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous_-_Diogenes...
- xorcist 7mo ago
  That does not match with my, very much anecdotal, experience. Real subject matter experts are generally very clear about where their expertise ends. Less experienced people, not so much.
- zimpenfish 7mo ago
  > There's also the fact that there's a lot less social pressure for young people not to look stupid. Also also they tend to be less financially "tethered" for want of a better word - mortgages, families, children, etc. - which makes it easier for them to be risky (consciously or not) about what/who/where they work on/with. Probably not likely to be jumping from your stable 9/5 to a startup when you've got your semi-detached with 4 kids.
- cal_dent 7mo ago
  And people wonder why society failed to embed the idea of being a blessing to say "I don't know" in llms.... That alone would save so much trouble. We, particularly bad workplaces, have a real fear of not knowing so much so that being confidently wrong is a better position in the whole game.

eucyclos 7mo ago

There's also the fact that there's a lot less social pressure for young people not to look stupid. If you're the senior subject matter expert and get a question you can't answer, people still expect you to make an educated guess. The junior guy they expect to ask someone.

iamflimflam1 7mo ago
The sign of true subject matter expert is someone who has the confidence to say when they don’t know the answer.
- chris_money202 7mo ago
  Sounds more like the sign of just a humble, honest person
- bonoboTP 7mo ago
  Yes, but that better not be all the time, and around basic questions.
- jodrellblank 7mo ago
  input(“ask me any question”) print(“I don’t know”) behold, Plato’s PhD level expert on any topic.
  - iamflimflam1 7mo ago
    It’s missing the line for “if I don’t know the answer”
    - jodrellblank 7mo ago
      It always doesn't know the answer, there's no branching possible, so no need for a branch test. By your definition that makes it a "true subject matter expert" on every subject. Although if you squint a bit, it does look rather like a plucked chicken. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous_-_Diogenes_brings_a_plucked_chicken_to_Plato.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous_-_Diogenes...
xorcist 7mo ago
That does not match with my, very much anecdotal, experience. Real subject matter experts are generally very clear about where their expertise ends. Less experienced people, not so much.
zimpenfish 7mo ago
> There's also the fact that there's a lot less social pressure for young people not to look stupid. Also also they tend to be less financially "tethered" for want of a better word - mortgages, families, children, etc. - which makes it easier for them to be risky (consciously or not) about what/who/where they work on/with. Probably not likely to be jumping from your stable 9/5 to a startup when you've got your semi-detached with 4 kids.
cal_dent 7mo ago
And people wonder why society failed to embed the idea of being a blessing to say "I don't know" in llms.... That alone would save so much trouble. We, particularly bad workplaces, have a real fear of not knowing so much so that being confidently wrong is a better position in the whole game.