> Even the smartest, most imaginative people are surprisingly conservative when deciding what to work on. People who would never dream of being fashionable in any other way get sucked into working on fashionable problems.
How can a statement like that be made? Is there some kind of authoritative directory of 'the smartest, most imaginative people' being 'surprisingly conservative when deciding what to work on'.
Implied I guess Paul means 'who I've met or who I know of'. So then say that.
It's a big world out there. Who knows what anyone is working on or what they are thinking or have tried and why they haven't pursued it.
This is a bit like saying 'people love their dogs and will do anything for them if they are sick'. Just a general statement of opinion by one person (and generally accepted as being correct) but based on not anything even close to being scientific and/or backed up by any actual data. That part is fine. But if that is the case state it as such and not some absolute. Why does this matter? Because when someone like Paul writes something it will be taken by others to be some kind of important thought or fact.
How can a statement like that be made? Is there some kind of authoritative directory of 'the smartest, most imaginative people' being 'surprisingly conservative when deciding what to work on'.
Implied I guess Paul means 'who I've met or who I know of'. So then say that.
It's a big world out there. Who knows what anyone is working on or what they are thinking or have tried and why they haven't pursued it.
This is a bit like saying 'people love their dogs and will do anything for them if they are sick'. Just a general statement of opinion by one person (and generally accepted as being correct) but based on not anything even close to being scientific and/or backed up by any actual data. That part is fine. But if that is the case state it as such and not some absolute. Why does this matter? Because when someone like Paul writes something it will be taken by others to be some kind of important thought or fact.