tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post745158511677942557..comments2024-03-14T01:32:43.610-06:00Comments on The Geomblog: On the virtue of NOT working on a problemSuresh Venkatasubramanianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15898357513326041822noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-69719847759337853892009-10-16T20:59:55.383-06:002009-10-16T20:59:55.383-06:00"[O]nce I have some nice results, and especia..."[O]nce I have some nice results, and especially if there isn't follow-on work to be done, I get bored with a paper."<br /><br />I agree. Once I see that something is going to work, it gets a lot less fun. That's why I enjoy working with graduate students: they keep the momentum going. After all, they have a vested interest in seeing the paper through to publication.Aureliehttp://engineered.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-23099067553290263352009-10-14T20:07:39.595-06:002009-10-14T20:07:39.595-06:00Oded Goldreich's opinion piece "On our du...Oded Goldreich's opinion piece "On our duties as scientists" seems relevant here: http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~oded/on-duties.html.<br /><br />Particularly relevant is the quotation: "...not communicating new knowledge to the relevant scientific community is effectively equivalent to not obtaining it at all."<br /><br />--Anon. 2Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-64548978543364462142009-10-12T12:04:41.058-06:002009-10-12T12:04:41.058-06:00I am a big fan of picking a direction of research...I am a big fan of picking a <i> direction of research </i> as opposed to a single problem. To me, the biggest advantage of picking a direction that you can write several papers in, is that the startup time that one needs to learn about a specific problem enough to have interesting ideas for solving it, is amortized over several papers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-63073507129690499502009-10-12T11:26:51.628-06:002009-10-12T11:26:51.628-06:00I've been convinced for some time that the mai...I've been convinced for some time that the main difference between the great researchers and the so-so researchers is "problem picking".<br /><br />Execution is important, but you can never recover from a bad initial choice.Daniel Lemirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01566622051558391310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555947.post-25441468210452150942009-10-12T09:57:14.376-06:002009-10-12T09:57:14.376-06:00An relevant song lyric: "Every good idea beco...An relevant song lyric: "Every good idea becomes a life's work for someone."JohnMounthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01471301836502765734noreply@blogger.com