Talk given by Richard Hamming as part of the art of doing science and engineering course.
Transcript of the lecture via paulgraham.com
Links to this note
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A talk given by Brian Moriarty, a renowned game designer/developer, that encourages listeners to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of making something awe-inspiring.
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Charlie Munger calls the lollapalooza effect a combination of several elements all acting in concert to create an even greater outcome. In investing, you are looking for outsized gains and you should look for these effects.
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How to Do Great Work (Literature Notes)
I read How to do great work by Paul Graham. It’s a collection of advice I’ve heard from various places. It sounds wise but it’s impossible to disprove. It leaves the practical parts of applying it to the real world up to the reader. Still, I find myself agreeing with pretty much all of it and it took me a very long time to learn these lessons.
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Working Hard Is Required to Do Great Work
Although it sounds like a truism, working hard is required to do great work. In practice, it is difficult to apply because one must recognize the quality of the work they are doing, the effort they are putting in, and being honest with oneself about the results they are getting.
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Science Is a War Against Skepticism and Dogmatism
Both skepticism and dogmatism are counter to science. With too much skepticism, nothing can be believed—not even our own senses. With too much dogmatism, the wisdom of crowds is unquestioned and quickly turns into the madness of crowds.
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Mathematician and computer scientist.
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A German mathematician David Hilbert published 23 unsolved problems in the field of mathematics. It went on to be one of the most influential works that spawned a multitude of new thinking and applications to solve the problems presented.
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The Downside of First-Principles Thinking
The problem with first-principles thinking is that you don’t know what you don’t know. You might end up deriving the same thing you could have read in a 101-level textbook. You might think you have a novel idea of a blockchain-powered utopia but it turns out it’s Georgism with extra steps.
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There are four kinds of luck.