Sometimes somethings need to be dug into, there has to be a commencing point to solutions no matter how dull they initially seem or smell..
And in this short bit here, Peter is tryna come up with some nice examples concerning that.
[The guy seems to gesticulate much though.. a habit im trying to rid myself of :p ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbwpRlEMNS0
As R.Feynman would put it;
"..nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough."
Deeper enough or farther enough.. here is what Newton said;
Later Mathematician R. W. Hamming added;
"If I have seen farther than others it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants."
"Mathematicians stand on each other’s shoulders while computer scientists stand on each other’s toes."
Finally, computer scientist Hal Abelson quipped;
"If I have not seen farther, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders.."
Well, nice way to place the blame i guess :p
But really, deeply enough doesn't necessarily correspond to originality or perfectionism.
Leonard’s in his lil booklet Mastery quotes like so:
"...the essence of boredom is to be found in the obsessive search for novelty.
Satisfaction lies in the discovery of endless riches and subtle variations on familiar themes."
Rote application of statistics is mind-numbingly dull, yes, but statistics can be quite interesting when you dig deep down to the foundations.
Back in the day one of my supervisors used to exhort us to volunteer to teach freshman courses. Most people want to teach the more advanced courses instead, but he said that some of his best inspiration came from teaching the most foundational courses.
Focusing on depth of the basics is a jolly hard work and few people would want to do it.
People usually focus more on originality of it all..
Paul Graham in the intro to Founders at Work.
"People like the idea of innovation in the abstract, but when you present them with any specific innovation, they tend to reject it because it doesn’t fit with what they already know. … As Howard Aiken said, “Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas [plagiarism]. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats anyway.”
If you strive to be original, you might achieve it in some technical sense, but end up with something nobody cares about.
Strive for persistence and excellence instead, and VOILA.. you’re more likely to do something valuable.
C. S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory says;
"No man who values originality will ever be original. But try to tell the truth as you see it, try to do any bit of work as well as it can be done for the work’s sake, and what men call originality will come unsought."
Here’s an awesome quote from Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit.
"Honey, it’s all been done before. Nothing’s really original. Not Homer or Shakespeare and certainly not you. Get over yourself."
Frankly, trying to be completely original is paralyzing, and not even possible.
Only the Al Mighty Creator creates ex-nihilo.
Everyone else starts with something somewhere.
Lets not try to be Al Mighty... lets try to be humans instead.
And last but not the least, speaking about the thin line between depth & the delusion; this quote from W. C. Fields is refreshing to the very bone:
"If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."
heh.. im soo frigging loving the originality of this last one.
lol.
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