I am someone who spends enormous amount of time mindlessly skimming through internet glued to my phone. It makes me worry that due to this habit it will be difficult for me to do any novel work due to lack of deep thinking.
What I take away from reading profiles of the very intelligent is that for many of them the thing they’re known for also happens to be the thing they like doing and are inclined to it despite themselves. Some enjoy the pleasure that comes from deep thinking. Others enjoy understanding what others have thought up. It’s fine. There’s no competition.
This is a common theme in machine learning and agent simulations, but can be found everywhere.
> Exploration involves activities such as search, variation, risk taking, experimentation, discovery, and innovation. Exploitation involves activities such as refinement, efficiency, selection, implementation, and execution
(from here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02560909155997...)
> experimentation, discovery, and innovation.
Is the important part, e.g. because of mindlessly surfing around and trying out new cool algorithms/demos made with obsucre tools, I became an expert at testing and integrating things which were not ment to be integrated with each other. That is a usefull skill..
But I can just as often fall into the trap of reiterating cool stories from the internet to other people. That is usually not helpfull. I.e. you need to do your own discoveries as well by trying them, not just share.
it works