Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

This exchange reminds me of the Illuminatus! trilogy[0] in which the Discordians at some point introduce the idea of dividing humans into "neophobes" (who dislike new things and the exploration of random unknowns) and "neophiles" (who dislike sticking to established, stable paradigms and want to do new things instead).

The former end up in a stable equilibrium with slow (if any) progress, the latter fail often but are important for fast-paced progress.

In other words, whenever you (the reader generally, not davidivadavid in particular) write "probably", imagine a Wikipedia editor adding [citation needed] after it.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illuminatus!_Trilogy




On the exploration/exploitation spectrum, I'm definitely on the exploration side. I'm just highly skeptical of those particular Google projects.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: