@zeta_globin also reading the history of something is unreasonably effective at discovering new applications for old ideas, which from the outside looks exactly like innovation!
reading history is very lindy
i never really understood [*] quantum mechanics until i read heisenberg's original 1925 paper because it was the first time someone plainly stated its core crux to me (only talk about things you can observe).
i studied physics for 4 years. i had probably read hundreds of contemporary explanations at that point. it's amusing that i had to go back 100 years and read the original to really grok the intuition.
reading his ~autobiographical "physics and beyond" (1972) where he talks about the chronology of all the events of his scientific life was the other big thing that helped.
it made me realise that a lot of decisions and assumptions were not made arbitrary but were rather heavily influenced by The Current Thing at that time. knowing what the path we took to get here is very important to understanding why things are the way they are.
[*] i still don't understand it, but at least it's not totally unsatisfying anymore
@erikdunteman ahahah
i probably spent ~3-4% of my life going through a lot of similar things [1], happy to share notes so that you don't have to :)
[1] https://t.co/bo9LJZvdat