“Claude Shannon once told me that as a kid, he remembered being stuck on a jigsaw puzzle. His brother, who was passing by, said to him: “You know: I could tell you something.”
That’s all his brother said.
Yet that was enough hint to help Claude solve the puzzle. The great thing about this hint… is that you can always give it to yourself.”
Good quote, but the last sentence seems misleading—what the brother was saying was something like “there’s something obvious you aren’t noticing” (thus prompting Shannon to look again with fresh eyes), which isn’t always true.
--Manuel Blum, “Advice to a Beginning Graduate Student”
Good quote, but the last sentence seems misleading—what the brother was saying was something like “there’s something obvious you aren’t noticing” (thus prompting Shannon to look again with fresh eyes), which isn’t always true.