The largest disadvantage to not having, essentially, an apprenticeship is the stuff you don’t learn.
Now, if you want to research something where all you need is a keen wit, and there’s not a ton of knowledge for you to pick up before you start… sure, go ahead. But those topics are few and far between. (EDIT: oh, LW-ish stuff. Meh. Sure, then, I guess. I thought you meant researching something hard >:DDDDD
No, but really, if smart people have been doing research there for 50 years and we don’t have AI, that means that “seems easy to make progress” is a dirty lie. It may mean that other people haven’t learned much to teach you, though—you should put some actual effort (get responses from at least two experts) finding out of this is the case)
Usually, an apprenticeship will teach you:
What needs to be done in your field.
How to write, publicize and present your work. The communication protocols of the community. How to access the knowledge of the community.
How to use all the necessary equipment, including the equipment that builds other equipment.
How to be properly rigorous—a hard one in most fields, you have to make it instinctual rather than just known.
The subtle tricks an experienced researcher uses to actually do research—all sorts of things you might not have noticed on your own.
The largest disadvantage to not having, essentially, an apprenticeship is the stuff you don’t learn.
Now, if you want to research something where all you need is a keen wit, and there’s not a ton of knowledge for you to pick up before you start… sure, go ahead. But those topics are few and far between. (EDIT: oh, LW-ish stuff. Meh. Sure, then, I guess. I thought you meant researching something hard >:DDDDD
No, but really, if smart people have been doing research there for 50 years and we don’t have AI, that means that “seems easy to make progress” is a dirty lie. It may mean that other people haven’t learned much to teach you, though—you should put some actual effort (get responses from at least two experts) finding out of this is the case)
Usually, an apprenticeship will teach you:
What needs to be done in your field.
How to write, publicize and present your work. The communication protocols of the community. How to access the knowledge of the community.
How to use all the necessary equipment, including the equipment that builds other equipment.
How to be properly rigorous—a hard one in most fields, you have to make it instinctual rather than just known.
The subtle tricks an experienced researcher uses to actually do research—all sorts of things you might not have noticed on your own.
And more!