> Our pointer wizard was a philosophy major who had no trouble at all with the idea of a named “thing” being a transient stand-in for some other unseen Thing. For a Plato man, this was mother’s milk.
I don't really see the connection. Pointers are not conceptually difficult, it's an address to a point in memory, but they are none-the-less confusing and notoriously difficult to work with for some.
I'm skeptical of the effectiveness of cross-training, the idea that seemingly unrelated studies can help you directly in a given field. I believe the only way to become proficient in task X is by practicing task X. Even the simplest seemingly transferrable skills have been shown to be independent. I think I remember reading about a study that showed that very strong ping-pong players have no quicker reflexes than non-players in traditional tests (can't find the link). Personal antidotal evidence I found also supports that intelligence or skill in one field rarely transfers over to other fields. I would never take financial advice from a brilliant chess player.
The one thing I will grant the author is that a novice, often unencumbered by traditional methods may come up with novel solutions to tasks.
I don't really see the connection. Pointers are not conceptually difficult, it's an address to a point in memory, but they are none-the-less confusing and notoriously difficult to work with for some.
I'm skeptical of the effectiveness of cross-training, the idea that seemingly unrelated studies can help you directly in a given field. I believe the only way to become proficient in task X is by practicing task X. Even the simplest seemingly transferrable skills have been shown to be independent. I think I remember reading about a study that showed that very strong ping-pong players have no quicker reflexes than non-players in traditional tests (can't find the link). Personal antidotal evidence I found also supports that intelligence or skill in one field rarely transfers over to other fields. I would never take financial advice from a brilliant chess player.
The one thing I will grant the author is that a novice, often unencumbered by traditional methods may come up with novel solutions to tasks.