There are always higher levels. If nothing else, you can invent them yourself.
That’s what came to mind after reading this post, after reflexively comparing how intelligent I think I am to how intelligent I perceive the author and commenters to be.
Another thing that came to mind was a grumpy sense that the whole issue had not been framed in a useful way, and an urge to meddle with how the ideas are arranged.
When I see someone’s work who is at higher levels than my own current understanding and abilities allow me to achieve, (notice I am not phrasing that as if it is innate and cannot be learned,) I often feel frustrated at the poor quality of the educational materials or culturally transmitted knowledge that I have come across so far, the lack of map to get there.
I also usually feel relief, and, depending how much I care about the ability and subject matter, sometimes fascination at the work itself, and at the puzzle of how to get closer to that level of ability. I also feel more hope for the world.
It is easier to see brilliance than create brilliance.
In some fields of study there are many people working on a problem. But if you are the only one who you know of who devotes a lot of time to the problem, who cares that much, and who is taking an approach to the problem that is not clearly incorrect, then, it can get...lonely. Except lonely is not the right word. It is not like being lonely for social reasons. It is the murkiness of familiar uncertainty, of having no reliable measuring tools, of staying there for a long time. At times, it can be disorienting.
I’m not sure I am actually addressing the topics in the post, because the post seems to be a mix of several ideas, and the way it is written feels incomplete and imprecise, at least in so much as it conveys meaning to me. And, it is a ~5 year old post, probably the people involved have updated their thinking by now. Nevertheless, it struck a chord with me.
If there was gasp someone who was smarter than you in the ways you care about being smart yourself...then so what? I’m not sure what that has to do with your ability to revolutionize your field, or the sense of being limited by past choices, or concerns you are not using your time in the optimal way, or the way in which expertise and levelling up alters one’s perceptions of others and their work. Perhaps these issues all connect in some way, but they seem like they have been unnecessarily conflated into a bit of a mess, to me.
If anything, I would think that someone else being able to achieve something great would make it more likely that you could do so, by showing that it is humanly possible, by giving an example to study and learn from, by expanding the knowledge available to humanity. Having more building blocks with which to build new stuff is, usually, a net benefit.
Also, some things get invented all at once, others in incremental stages. The history of the electric guitar, how several people tinkering with technology led to the instrument we have today, is a counterexample to the single brilliant person model of discovery and invention.
If someone comes along and solves all the problems you’ve been working on, wouldn’t that be a good thing? Do you really not have confidence in your ability to take the next step, or to find something else to work on? I personally have a long list of things that I want to do, and to do them all would take several lifetimes, if lifespans remain about the same as they currently are. Wouldn’t that free you up to do something else? I do not get the sense that you have any shortage of things you desire to spend your time on or accomplish.
If no one solves it, if you do not finish, or even fruitfully work on your chosen task, if you fail, is that the bigger problem? To put in so much time and effort, and have it be for nothing? I don’t have much to say to that one, except that this is the risk of working on interesting important problems.
There are always higher levels. If nothing else, you can invent them yourself.
That’s what came to mind after reading this post, after reflexively comparing how intelligent I think I am to how intelligent I perceive the author and commenters to be.
Another thing that came to mind was a grumpy sense that the whole issue had not been framed in a useful way, and an urge to meddle with how the ideas are arranged.
When I see someone’s work who is at higher levels than my own current understanding and abilities allow me to achieve, (notice I am not phrasing that as if it is innate and cannot be learned,) I often feel frustrated at the poor quality of the educational materials or culturally transmitted knowledge that I have come across so far, the lack of map to get there.
I also usually feel relief, and, depending how much I care about the ability and subject matter, sometimes fascination at the work itself, and at the puzzle of how to get closer to that level of ability. I also feel more hope for the world.
It is easier to see brilliance than create brilliance.
In some fields of study there are many people working on a problem. But if you are the only one who you know of who devotes a lot of time to the problem, who cares that much, and who is taking an approach to the problem that is not clearly incorrect, then, it can get...lonely. Except lonely is not the right word. It is not like being lonely for social reasons. It is the murkiness of familiar uncertainty, of having no reliable measuring tools, of staying there for a long time. At times, it can be disorienting.
I’m not sure I am actually addressing the topics in the post, because the post seems to be a mix of several ideas, and the way it is written feels incomplete and imprecise, at least in so much as it conveys meaning to me. And, it is a ~5 year old post, probably the people involved have updated their thinking by now. Nevertheless, it struck a chord with me.
If there was gasp someone who was smarter than you in the ways you care about being smart yourself...then so what? I’m not sure what that has to do with your ability to revolutionize your field, or the sense of being limited by past choices, or concerns you are not using your time in the optimal way, or the way in which expertise and levelling up alters one’s perceptions of others and their work. Perhaps these issues all connect in some way, but they seem like they have been unnecessarily conflated into a bit of a mess, to me.
If anything, I would think that someone else being able to achieve something great would make it more likely that you could do so, by showing that it is humanly possible, by giving an example to study and learn from, by expanding the knowledge available to humanity. Having more building blocks with which to build new stuff is, usually, a net benefit.
Also, some things get invented all at once, others in incremental stages. The history of the electric guitar, how several people tinkering with technology led to the instrument we have today, is a counterexample to the single brilliant person model of discovery and invention.
If someone comes along and solves all the problems you’ve been working on, wouldn’t that be a good thing? Do you really not have confidence in your ability to take the next step, or to find something else to work on? I personally have a long list of things that I want to do, and to do them all would take several lifetimes, if lifespans remain about the same as they currently are. Wouldn’t that free you up to do something else? I do not get the sense that you have any shortage of things you desire to spend your time on or accomplish.
If no one solves it, if you do not finish, or even fruitfully work on your chosen task, if you fail, is that the bigger problem? To put in so much time and effort, and have it be for nothing? I don’t have much to say to that one, except that this is the risk of working on interesting important problems.