
Donald Knuth's advice to young people - antichaos
http://www.webofstories.com/play/17152?o=MS
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q21221
Speaking as a young man, I always found this counter intuitive and here is why
(and this is an argument which has been called many things including cute).
Wouldn't following the heard be safe? Suppose I don't really want to change
the world, rather I want to enjoy myself. Now following the heard is easy, I
do whatever everyone else is doing and have the advantage that I can learn
from their mistakes. Now I have a large amount of data on what works and what
doesn't so I can pick and choose how I wish to follow the heard. On the other
hand I have this gut feeling thing which isn't really based on data and more
so on... well nothing tangible really. I just feel it may pay out. Their is a
high failure rate in such methods and a high frustration attached to it since
like minds are rare. So is it that if I want to change the world I should not
follow the herd and should follow if I want to just live?

~~~
apaitch
A wise man learns from the mistakes of others, yes. But you don't have to be
doing what everyone else is doing to learn from their mistakes (otherwise you
wouldn't be learning from their mistakes, but from your own). Also, if, as you
say, you follow others and do what they do it's not really based on data
either until you get enough experience to know what works and what doesn't.
After that your "data" will be the sum of past experience and observing the
successes and failures of others. It's really the same process if you follow
your intuition.

I think the misconception is that following your intuition HAS to mean NOT
following the herd. That's only true in the sense of making up your mind and
choosing what it is you want to do regardless of what other people are doing.
If this happens to coincide with the herd's behaviour it doesn't make your
behaviour herd-y (=P). The difference is the "why", not the "what". You're
acting in a certain way because that's what you decided to do based on, say,
intuition, or based on what other people are doing (or a mix of both). What it
is you're doing may be exactly the same as what others are doing, but that's
secondary. And I should say that living according to your inner voice really
isn't that difficult/frustrating. In fact it's somewhat liberating to do what
you want to do as figuring out the herd and convincing yourself to follow it
takes more mental energy (in my opinion/experience, of course).

Lastly, when talking about "learning what works and what doesn't", it's
unlikely that you'll learn about things that really work from those that
follow the herd. It's more likely that you'll learn from those who lead the
herd - and those people do it by following their inner voice.

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thirsteh
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause
and reflect." -- Mark Twain

~~~
thirsteh
Two quotes are better than one quote:

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it
is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of
mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." --
Bertrand Russell

~~~
jt2190
"It's not mob mentality... It's jumping on the bandwagon!" -- Homer J. Simpson

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antichaos
tl;dr: Follow your instinct rather than the herd. Don't do something just
because it's trendy. Do it because you believe it's important and will have a
long-term impact to the world.

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sneak
Don Knuth, original hipster.

I couldn't help thinking of Ryan Dahl while watching this.

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gersh
Is Donald Knuth's approach the complete opposite of the lean startup
methodology? Are too many people just trying to follow the latest trends?

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freyrs3
His advice was to follow your instinct rather than the herd. I don't see how
that's related to learn startup methodology.

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groth
because the lean startup methodology is currently the herd favorite...

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richardburton
The lean startup methodology is a process for following either the herd
(coupons!) or your instinct (something useful).

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Anne_Greenwood
Anyone can add a video to Web of Stories (see softbuilder 8 days ago | link
below). It is simple and free to use. Just go to <http://webofstories.com> and
try!

Anne Greenwood Web of Stories Ltd

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softbuilder
Setting aside Knuth for a second, this Web of Stories project is pretty great.
I hope this grows.

