A different way to think about types of work is within current ML paradigms vs outside of them. If you believe that timelines are short (e.g. 5 years or less), it makes much more sense to work within current paradigms, otherwise there’s very little chance your work will become adopted in time to matter. Mainstream AI, with all of its momentum, is not going to adopt a new paradigm overnight.
If I understand you correctly, there’s a close (but not exact) correspondence between work I’d label in-paradigm and work you’d label as “streetlighting”. On my model the best reason to work in-paradigm is because that’s where your work has a realistic chance to make a difference in this world.
So I think it’s actually good to have a portfolio of projects (maybe not unlike the current mix), from moonshots to very prosaic approaches.
A different way to think about types of work is within current ML paradigms vs outside of them. If you believe that timelines are short (e.g. 5 years or less), it makes much more sense to work within current paradigms, otherwise there’s very little chance your work will become adopted in time to matter. Mainstream AI, with all of its momentum, is not going to adopt a new paradigm overnight.
If I understand you correctly, there’s a close (but not exact) correspondence between work I’d label in-paradigm and work you’d label as “streetlighting”. On my model the best reason to work in-paradigm is because that’s where your work has a realistic chance to make a difference in this world.
So I think it’s actually good to have a portfolio of projects (maybe not unlike the current mix), from moonshots to very prosaic approaches.