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You should read The Art of Doing Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming.
But you probably don’t have time.
So here is a
with a running summary as I read and take notes on the book.
But you probably don’t have time.
So here is a
with a running summary as I read and take notes on the book.
You can get the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732265178/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_1X0RFb2QA4JEC
Your work process is only as valuable as the goals you’ve designed it to achieve.
“It was not the number of operations done that mattered; it was, as it were, the number of of micro-Noble prizes I computed.”
“It was not the number of operations done that mattered; it was, as it were, the number of of micro-Noble prizes I computed.”
Your field will change more quickly and extensively than you can imagine over your career.
Therefore, you must master first-principles and develop your own style of thinking.
As a result, you’ll create an antifragile mind capable of thriving as the world progresses.
Therefore, you must master first-principles and develop your own style of thinking.
As a result, you’ll create an antifragile mind capable of thriving as the world progresses.
How do you recognize first principles?
“One test is they have lasted a long time. Another test is from the fundamentals all the rest of the field can be derived by using the standard methods of the field.”
“One test is they have lasted a long time. Another test is from the fundamentals all the rest of the field can be derived by using the standard methods of the field.”
How do you develop a thinking style? It’s an art. You can’t memorize a formula.
“Style cannot be taught in the normal manner.”
But you can learn vicariously through studying the experience of others.
“Style cannot be taught in the normal manner.”
But you can learn vicariously through studying the experience of others.
When learning vicariously, study successes more than failures.
“There are so many ways of being wrong and so few of being right, studying successes is more efficient, and furthermore when your turn comes you will know how to succeed rather than how to fail!”
“There are so many ways of being wrong and so few of being right, studying successes is more efficient, and furthermore when your turn comes you will know how to succeed rather than how to fail!”
Always live your life with a vision for the future.
“In a sense, the main difference between those who go far and those who do not is some people have a vision and the others do not and therefore can only react to the current events as they happen.”
“In a sense, the main difference between those who go far and those who do not is some people have a vision and the others do not and therefore can only react to the current events as they happen.”
Don’t worry about whether your vision pans out.
It won’t.
“The accuracy of the vision matters less than you might suppose, getting anywhere is better than drifting.”
It won’t.
“The accuracy of the vision matters less than you might suppose, getting anywhere is better than drifting.”
Greatness is a jungle gym, not a ladder. You can take many ways to the top.
“There are potentially many paths to greatness for you, and just which path you go on, so long as it takes you to greatness, is none of my business.”
“There are potentially many paths to greatness for you, and just which path you go on, so long as it takes you to greatness, is none of my business.”
What is the purpose of life?
“You ought to try to make a significant contribution to humanity rather than just get along through life comfortably.”
“A life without a struggle on your part to make yourself excellent is hardly a life worth living.”
“You ought to try to make a significant contribution to humanity rather than just get along through life comfortably.”
“A life without a struggle on your part to make yourself excellent is hardly a life worth living.”
Take nothing for granted.
“You must assume responsibility for what you believe.”
“Rethink everything you ever learned on the subject, question every successful doctrine from the past, and finally decide for yourself its future applicability.”
“You must assume responsibility for what you believe.”
“Rethink everything you ever learned on the subject, question every successful doctrine from the past, and finally decide for yourself its future applicability.”
A few bad hires can cause damage across your business.
“You may actually be better off to pay the worst to stay home and not get in the way of the more capable.”
“You may actually be better off to pay the worst to stay home and not get in the way of the more capable.”
Discovery should fuel application.
“Almost all professionals are slow to use their own expertise for their own work.”
“Almost all professionals are slow to use their own expertise for their own work.”
The true power of computing has yet to be realized.
“It seems to me in the long run it is on the intellectual side of life that machines can most contribute to quality of life.”
IMHO, @RoamResearch is leading the way, thanks to @Conaw.
“It seems to me in the long run it is on the intellectual side of life that machines can most contribute to quality of life.”
IMHO, @RoamResearch is leading the way, thanks to @Conaw.
Don’t merely build a machine to complete a task. Use a machine to reframe how the task is done.
“Realize, as a general rule, it is not the same job you should do with a machine, but an equivalent one, and do it so that future, flexible expansion can be easily added.”
“Realize, as a general rule, it is not the same job you should do with a machine, but an equivalent one, and do it so that future, flexible expansion can be easily added.”
At its core, what is artificial intelligence?
“AI can be viewed as complimentary to robotics—it is mainly concerned with the intellectual side of the human rather than the physical side, though obviously both are closely connected in most projects.”
“AI can be viewed as complimentary to robotics—it is mainly concerned with the intellectual side of the human rather than the physical side, though obviously both are closely connected in most projects.”
The true power of computers is not to automate existing work processes but to expand horizons.
“You can see the effects of computers and how they are pushing us from the world of things into the world of ideas, and how they are supplementing and extending what humans can do.”
“You can see the effects of computers and how they are pushing us from the world of things into the world of ideas, and how they are supplementing and extending what humans can do.”
Nine questions you should consider as you reflect on the future of artificial intelligence:
Thinking about the future of AI is more important than being right.
“Whichever position you adopt there is the other side, and I do not care what you believe so long as you have good reasons and can explain them clearly. That is my task, to make you think on this awkward topic.”
“Whichever position you adopt there is the other side, and I do not care what you believe so long as you have good reasons and can explain them clearly. That is my task, to make you think on this awkward topic.”
Count the costs before you’re cynical about computer-aided anything.
“People often start with remarks such as, ‘I would not want to have my life depend on a machine,’ to which the reply is, ‘You are opposed to using pacemakers to keep people alive?’”
“People often start with remarks such as, ‘I would not want to have my life depend on a machine,’ to which the reply is, ‘You are opposed to using pacemakers to keep people alive?’”
“The plain fact is your life is often controlled by machines, and sometimes they are essential to your life—you just do not like to be reminded of it.”
The human animal is often slow, unreliable, and prone to errors—and we do not keep these flaws in mind when working together.
But computers can be programmed to work with human factors.
“Often humans can cooperate with a machine far better than with other humans.”
But computers can be programmed to work with human factors.
“Often humans can cooperate with a machine far better than with other humans.”
Would Hamming buy #Bitcoin 
?
“The future will be increasingly concerned with information in the form of symbols and less concerned with material things.”
What say you, @APompliano and @ihatecodee?
?“The future will be increasingly concerned with information in the form of symbols and less concerned with material things.”
What say you, @APompliano and @ihatecodee?
HCI 101: Computers should adapt to work with humans; humans shouldn’t have to adapt to work with computers.
“When you think about the man-machine interface, one of the things you would like is to have the human make comparatively few keystrokes.”
“When you think about the man-machine interface, one of the things you would like is to have the human make comparatively few keystrokes.”
Process > Output
“The method of discovery is more important than what is discovered.
“The method of discovery is more important than what is discovered.
BUT focus on output rather than process while building.
“I knew enough not to think about the process when doing research, just as athletes do not think about style when they engage in sport, but they practice the style until it is more or less automatic.”
“I knew enough not to think about the process when doing research, just as athletes do not think about style when they engage in sport, but they practice the style until it is more or less automatic.”
Stress is the mother of breakthroughs.
“Working calmly will let you elaborate and extend things, but the breakthroughs generally come only after great frustration and emotional involvement. The calm, cool, uninvolved researcher seldom makes really great new steps.”
“Working calmly will let you elaborate and extend things, but the breakthroughs generally come only after great frustration and emotional involvement. The calm, cool, uninvolved researcher seldom makes really great new steps.”
Greatness is a numbers game.
“Life presents you with many, many opportunities for doing great things (define them as you will) and the prepared person usually hits one or more successes, and the unprepared person will miss almost every time.”
“Life presents you with many, many opportunities for doing great things (define them as you will) and the prepared person usually hits one or more successes, and the unprepared person will miss almost every time.”
Greatness comes from preparing yourself for greatness.
“You establish in yourself the style of doing great things, and then when opportunity comes you almost automatically respond with greatness in your actions.”
“You establish in yourself the style of doing great things, and then when opportunity comes you almost automatically respond with greatness in your actions.”
However,
“What it takes to be great in one age is not what is required in the next one. Thus you, in preparing yourself for future greatness, must think of the nature of the future you will live in.
Again, a random walk of random decisions will not get you anywhere.”
“What it takes to be great in one age is not what is required in the next one. Thus you, in preparing yourself for future greatness, must think of the nature of the future you will live in.
Again, a random walk of random decisions will not get you anywhere.”
Friendship is key.
“It must be your friends, in some sense, who make you famous by quoting you and citing you, and it pays, so I claim, to be helpful.”
But
“The fun of working with good people on important problems is more pleasure than the resulting fame.”
“It must be your friends, in some sense, who make you famous by quoting you and citing you, and it pays, so I claim, to be helpful.”
But
“The fun of working with good people on important problems is more pleasure than the resulting fame.”
Put your failures to work.
“When you know something cannot be done, also remember the essential reason why, so later, when circumstances have changed, you will not say, ‘It can’t be done.’”
“When you know something cannot be done, also remember the essential reason why, so later, when circumstances have changed, you will not say, ‘It can’t be done.’”
Strike a balance with your skepticism.
“If you do not, now and then, doubt accepted rules, it is unlikely you will be a leader into new areas; if you doubt too much you will be paralyzed and will do nothing.”
“If you do not, now and then, doubt accepted rules, it is unlikely you will be a leader into new areas; if you doubt too much you will be paralyzed and will do nothing.”
“When to doubt, when to examine the basics, when to think for yourself, and when to go on and accept things as they are is a matter of style, and I can give no simple formula on how to decide. You must learn from your own study of life.”
Never forget the flaws in human nature.
“Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal. Often what you believe is what you want to believe, rather than being the result of careful thinking.”
“Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal. Often what you believe is what you want to believe, rather than being the result of careful thinking.”
Never forget: everything we know makes up only 5% of reality.
“I doubt, between you and me, the physicists know everything. There are such things as self-awareness and self-consciousness which cannot be ignored as they are in the ‘atoms and void’ theories.”
“I doubt, between you and me, the physicists know everything. There are such things as self-awareness and self-consciousness which cannot be ignored as they are in the ‘atoms and void’ theories.”
But how does the immaterial work with the material?
“How such things, if they exist, can interact with the real world of atoms is not a bit clear to me. I have nothing to offer you in these matters, except not to depend on quantum mechanics for much support.”
“How such things, if they exist, can interact with the real world of atoms is not a bit clear to me. I have nothing to offer you in these matters, except not to depend on quantum mechanics for much support.”
What is creativity?
“Creativity seems, among other things, to be usefully putting together things which were not perceived to be related before, and it may be the initial psychological distance between the things which counts most.”
“Creativity seems, among other things, to be usefully putting together things which were not perceived to be related before, and it may be the initial psychological distance between the things which counts most.”
Live a life that will make your 100-year-old self proud.
“Near the end it is nice to look back at a life of accomplishment rather than a life where you have merely survived and amused yourself.”
“Near the end it is nice to look back at a life of accomplishment rather than a life where you have merely survived and amused yourself.”
How can you succeed when greatness depends so much on luck?
“I have repeated cited Pasteur’s remark, ‘Luck favors the prepared mind.’ It both admits there is an element of luck and yet claims to a great extent it is up to you.”
“I have repeated cited Pasteur’s remark, ‘Luck favors the prepared mind.’ It both admits there is an element of luck and yet claims to a great extent it is up to you.”
IQ is a red herring.
“Brains are nice to have, but many people who seem not to have great IQs have done great things.”
At Bell, Hamming learned “brains come in many forms and flavors, and to beware of ignoring any chance to work with a good man.”
“Brains are nice to have, but many people who seem not to have great IQs have done great things.”
At Bell, Hamming learned “brains come in many forms and flavors, and to beware of ignoring any chance to work with a good man.”
Confidence is the first step to greatness.
“Look at your successes, and pay less attention to failures than you are usually advised to do in the expression, ‘Learn from your mistakes.’”
“The courage to continue is essential.”
“Look at your successes, and pay less attention to failures than you are usually advised to do in the expression, ‘Learn from your mistakes.’”
“The courage to continue is essential.”
Work with peers to pick the right problems to solve.
“Those with closed doors, while working just as hard as others, seem to work on slightly the wrong problems, while those who have let their door stay open get less work done but tend to work on the right problems!”
“Those with closed doors, while working just as hard as others, seem to work on slightly the wrong problems, while those who have let their door stay open get less work done but tend to work on the right problems!”
Embrace the suck.
“The conditions you want are seldom the best ones for you—the interaction with harsh reality tends to push you into significant discoveries which otherwise you would never have thought about while doing pure research in a vacuum of your private interest.”
“The conditions you want are seldom the best ones for you—the interaction with harsh reality tends to push you into significant discoveries which otherwise you would never have thought about while doing pure research in a vacuum of your private interest.”
Leverage your mental energy.
“Intellectual investment is like compound interest: the more you do, the more you learn how to do, so the more you can do.”
For me, @david_perell, @elonmusk, @naval, @balajis, @nntaleb, and @sapinker are living proof.
“Intellectual investment is like compound interest: the more you do, the more you learn how to do, so the more you can do.”
For me, @david_perell, @elonmusk, @naval, @balajis, @nntaleb, and @sapinker are living proof.
Beware the Siren Song of effort input.
“Be careful—the race is not to the one who works the hardest! You need to work on the right problems at the right time and in the right way.”
“Be careful—the race is not to the one who works the hardest! You need to work on the right problems at the right time and in the right way.”
Make time to think great thoughts.
“Take the time on a regular basis to ask the larger questions and not stay immersed in the sea of detail where almost everyone stays almost all the time.”
“Take the time on a regular basis to ask the larger questions and not stay immersed in the sea of detail where almost everyone stays almost all the time.”
Great people tolerate ambiguity.
“If you believe too much, you will not likely see the chances for significant improvements; if you do not believe enough, you will be filled with doubts and get very little done.”
“If you believe too much, you will not likely see the chances for significant improvements; if you do not believe enough, you will be filled with doubts and get very little done.”
Do your best with what you have.
“It is a poor workman who blames his tools.
“It is a poor workman who blames his tools.
Produce an extensible portfolio of output.
“You should do your job in such a fashion that others can build on top of it. If you are to get recognition then others must use your results, adopt, adapt, extend, and elaborate them, and in the process give you credit.”
“You should do your job in such a fashion that others can build on top of it. If you are to get recognition then others must use your results, adopt, adapt, extend, and elaborate them, and in the process give you credit.”
Half of science is selling new ideas.
“You must master three things to do this:
1. Giving formal presentations
2. Producing written reports
3. Mastering the art of informal talks”
“You must master three things to do this:
1. Giving formal presentations
2. Producing written reports
3. Mastering the art of informal talks”
Don’t have time to learn persuasive speaking?
“I did not either for many years—I had to establish the reputation on my own time that I could do important work, and only then was I given the time to do it.”
“I did not either for many years—I had to establish the reputation on my own time that I could do important work, and only then was I given the time to do it.”
In the end, what is this book?
It’s a series of talks that “a revivalist preacher might have given—repent your idle ways, and in the future strive for greatness as you see it!”
“You have no excuses for not doing better than I did. Good luck!”
It’s a series of talks that “a revivalist preacher might have given—repent your idle ways, and in the future strive for greatness as you see it!”
“You have no excuses for not doing better than I did. Good luck!”
