6 ms·

How to do research at the MIT AI Lab (1988) [pdf]

52 points by rpm33 12y ago

FLUX-YOU 12y ago
Well this is an easy paper to summarize: Be good at everything , read everything, talk to everybody in the field, don't ever sleep, and be able to dilate time to fit everything in!
- thanatosmin 12y ago
  Unfortunately this seems to be what a lot of people strive to do, then burn out or can never really produce impactful research. Sleep, rest, relaxation, are absolutely essential to creative work. You needn't be good at everything, but you will need to strive for the best in something, and find that thing nobody has ever done before.
- EdwardCoffin 12y ago
  It's important to note that this paper was published over 25 years ago, the field of A.I. was smaller then. I've read this paper multiple times, and I don't think I ever got the sense that you would need to not sleep to do it all. They spend some time talking about how to determine which are the important things to do, which you can let slide (for instance, on page 3 they say "There’s a whole bunch of journals about AI, and you could spend all your time reading them. Fortunately, only a few are worth looking at." then go on to talk about which ones to look at).
eddotman 12y ago
I skimmed through it, and most of the advice sounds pretty solid. However, I suspect that following all this advice at once is not humanly possible (or at the very least, leaves you little time for anything else in your life). I did like the part about the 'cool people' secret paper club.
whitten 12y ago
I find it interesting that this is published on a University of Massachusetts website rather than an MIT website. I also think a hefty dose of this paper could apply to grad school in most fields at many top schools.
- tjr 12y ago
  It's been reposted lots of places. Here's an ostensibly more official source, if you prefer: http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/41487 http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/41487
pXMzR2A 12y ago
are we going to get pursued legally if we share this document?
- rpm33 12y ago
  why would that happen ? it is a publicly available url.

52 points by rpm33 12y ago

Well this is an easy paper to summarize: Be good at everything , read everything, talk to everybody in the field, don't ever sleep, and be able to dilate time to fit everything in!

thanatosmin 12y ago
Unfortunately this seems to be what a lot of people strive to do, then burn out or can never really produce impactful research. Sleep, rest, relaxation, are absolutely essential to creative work. You needn't be good at everything, but you will need to strive for the best in something, and find that thing nobody has ever done before.
EdwardCoffin 12y ago
It's important to note that this paper was published over 25 years ago, the field of A.I. was smaller then. I've read this paper multiple times, and I don't think I ever got the sense that you would need to not sleep to do it all. They spend some time talking about how to determine which are the important things to do, which you can let slide (for instance, on page 3 they say "There’s a whole bunch of journals about AI, and you could spend all your time reading them. Fortunately, only a few are worth looking at." then go on to talk about which ones to look at).

eddotman 12y ago

I skimmed through it, and most of the advice sounds pretty solid. However, I suspect that following all this advice at once is not humanly possible (or at the very least, leaves you little time for anything else in your life). I did like the part about the 'cool people' secret paper club.

whitten 12y ago

I find it interesting that this is published on a University of Massachusetts website rather than an MIT website. I also think a hefty dose of this paper could apply to grad school in most fields at many top schools.

tjr 12y ago
It's been reposted lots of places. Here's an ostensibly more official source, if you prefer: http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/41487 http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/41487

pXMzR2A 12y ago

are we going to get pursued legally if we share this document?

rpm33 12y ago
why would that happen ? it is a publicly available url.