Yesterday some friends and I were discussing the advantages of working in research (as opposed to working for a company developing products). I said that to me the advantages of working in research are neatly encapsulated within a joke I heard when I was a boy. It goes like this.
A man is walking down the street, and he sees a boy in an alley with a bow and arrow. The boy is shooting arrows at a wall which is fairly far away. The man sees that the boy has already shot a number of arrows into the wall, and each arrow has hit the exact center of a bullseye.
Impressed, the man asks the boy “Could you show me how to shoot like that?” The boy says, “Sure, if you give me fifty dollars.” The man decides this is a good deal, considering how skilled the boy is. He hands the boy a fifty dollar bill, and the boy says, “Watch, I’ll show you how to do it.”
The boy then picks up his bow, and shoots an arrow against the wall. Then he walks up to the wall, picks up a piece of chalk, and draws a series of concentric circles around the arrow head.
And that, my friends, is why I like working in research.
Hahaha! Research is like this! Shoot before found an aim. I think being creative is much resembles being crazy. Sometimes you just need to think of something crazy and try to bring it to reality.
This story is pure genious … 😀
I use to do math research … but then I got bored by the fact that everybody published lots of articles claiming “interesting new results” while I was striving to reach something really valuable in math (so that I use to publish much less).
I know that research must go where it happens to go …
But I dont like when useless papers are presented as interesting results.
Now I work in school with kids … and you can’t pretend with them … you have to show interesting stuff.
cheers,
guzman.
Well actually, just shooting off arrows and then drawing circles around them isn’t the whole story.
Research is like acting, writing, cooking or playing music, or any other activity that benefits from putting in time to practice and gain experience, and developing your ability to tap into your own subconscious.
Over time and with practice you develop a knack for shooting your arrow in interesting directions, and also for recognizing which arrows to draw the circles around.
Yes, you’re right,
good research is what you say …
I was only criticizing the many uninsteresting papers
that are only printed because they have circles around.
But I love research and I completely agree with you.
thanks,
guzman.
Totally agree. Just think this joke really reflect some aspact of reaserch.