You’ll note that I don’t try to modestly say anything like, “Well, I may not be as brilliant as Jaynes or Conway, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do important things in my chosen field.”
Because I do know… that’s not how it works.
Maybe not in your field, but that is how it usually works, isn’t it?
Anybody can take the load off of someone smarter, by doing the easiest tasks that have been taking their time.
As a most obvious example, a brilliant scientist’s secretary. Another example: a brilliant statistician that employs a programmer, who turns his statistical and computational ideas into efficient, easy-to-use software. He doesn’t have to be the best programmer, and doesn’t have to be that great at statistics, but he allows the statistician to publish usable implementations of his statistical methods without having to code them himself.
Or, here’s another one: I’ve heard MIRI needs a science writer, or needs funding for one. You don’t have to be Eliezer Yudkowsky-level at thinking about FAI to save Yudkowsky the time it takes to write manuscripts that can be published in science journals, and then Yudkowsky uses that time for research.
This is “important work.” It’s not the kind of important work Jaynes or Conway does, and it doesn’t put your name in the history books, and if that’s what was meant by the article I have no disagreement. But by any utilitarian standard of importance, it’s important.
Maybe not in your field, but that is how it usually works, isn’t it?
(the rest of this comment is basically an explanation of comparative advantage)
Anybody can take the load off of someone smarter, by doing the easiest tasks that have been taking their time.
As a most obvious example, a brilliant scientist’s secretary. Another example: a brilliant statistician that employs a programmer, who turns his statistical and computational ideas into efficient, easy-to-use software. He doesn’t have to be the best programmer, and doesn’t have to be that great at statistics, but he allows the statistician to publish usable implementations of his statistical methods without having to code them himself.
Or, here’s another one: I’ve heard MIRI needs a science writer, or needs funding for one. You don’t have to be Eliezer Yudkowsky-level at thinking about FAI to save Yudkowsky the time it takes to write manuscripts that can be published in science journals, and then Yudkowsky uses that time for research.
This is “important work.” It’s not the kind of important work Jaynes or Conway does, and it doesn’t put your name in the history books, and if that’s what was meant by the article I have no disagreement. But by any utilitarian standard of importance, it’s important.