Comments on: Small ideas that hide in the dark

By: johan

johan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:14:53 +0000

I’m not talking about academic problems necessarily, just silly ideas in general. Simple ideas without much substance, such as “foreigners are dangerous”.
My final sentence was a bit wide of the mark perhaps.
When PhD students chase after small problems, I think they eventually manage to evolve those small problems into large and complicated things. They don’t chase things that lack this evolutionary potential.
So what I should perhaps have said was, “seek out the ideas that carry potential in their DNA”.

By: Richard Hayden

Richard Hayden — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:09:54 +0000

What are you saying Johan? We shouldn’t chase after smaller problems and only focus on the great, unsolved problems of our time? This is probably the anti-statement to every bit of advice given to beginning Ph. D. students

By: shirasurice

shirasurice — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:19:14 +0000

Or, perhaps one should seek to shed light on the little ideas that hide in the dark.