Post0501

There is a certain spark of insanity that characterizes the minds of those who make great strides in their fields. Einstein and Turing became obsessed with their ideas in physics and computing, respectively, which led them through a creative process culminating in the creation of revolutionary theories that form the foundation of these fields today. The passion of the chemist August Kekule invaded his dreams. I myself have had dreams of things I become obsessed with, usually games like chess and badminton*. I think that the development of interest that enables this kind of passion is beneficial to potential undertakers of work in scientific fields. Those who study physics should be passionate about physics and those who study computer science should be passionate about computer science. To this end, I believe that engaging in creative thought, feeding one's appetite for fascination, and stimulating the imagination are useful activities for every scientist and aspiring scientist to engage in.

*(I see myself playing these games in my dreams. I remember having once seen a chess move in my dream that at the time of the dream seemed logical and brilliant; when I awoke, I discovered that the position I saw was illogical. I can only imagine what the dreams must be like of impassioned chess masters who can easily maintain and analyze several chess positions in their minds simultaneously.)

One way to develop one's natural passion for the sciences is through storytelling, listening to stories, and working on ideas just for the fun of them, as Feynman used to do sometimes. I remember a story about how Feynman's initial calculations of the rotation and wobbling pattern of spinning dinner plates eventually led him on the path to quantum physics. Science itself is abstract, objective, and permanent, but the motivation behind why anyone studies science can be transient, ephemeral, and inexplicable.

Passion and interest are helpful in generating an incentive to expand one's knowledge and skillset in a field and is perhaps even vital in order to be a successful leader and competent scientist. But, where passion lags behind, discipline must take over. When pursuing a degree, a student commits to taking classes and learning the material of the course. Even when the student does not particularly enjoy the material or when the topics being covered do not align with the student's present interests, the student is obligated to keep focused and learn the concepts.

I also believe that it is useful to create a separation of learning or research done for hobby (henceforth "hobby learning") and learning or research done for duty ("duty learning") with regards to one's study of science.

To undertake learning or research related to a field in an academic or professional setting, the student or researcher must justify both the merit of the proposed project: its value in comparison to its opportunity cost including the funding it would require. This justification must also be upheld throughout the duration in which the student works on the project--he or she must convince others that there is value in studying what he or she studies. Therefore, maintaining a constant disciplined mode of working is essential to make progress and maintain one's reputation for work. 

On the other hand, hobby studying can be conducted in a much more flexible and leisurely manner. The student may engage in this activity by exploring related fields, reading fiction books related to the topic, learning through abstract sketches and YouTube videos, and taking intermittent pauses to search up a scientist or book on Wikipedia. The task of learning as a hobby is not as mentally demanding as duty learning and also serves the important role of replenishing the student's passion and updating the high-level understanding and appreciation of the subject he or she studies. Furthermore, hobby learning is much more lenient to creative thought. It is easy to study the motion of spinning dinner plates using a pen and paper on one's own time because the study is conducted at one's own expense and thus without the need for any justification. I suppose it may be true that even the student may not understand why he or she finds a certain topic interesting: perhaps it is due to the motivations of an unexplored aspect of the subconscious mind or a quirk in the personality of the student that increases the affinity of the student to that particular topic. At the expense of the flexibility and lenience is hobby learning's sometimes unjustifiable nature, capacity to lead the explorer down blind alleys that are not worth exploring, and the failure to recognize a problem as a solved problem if the researcher is not keen on reading others' research on the topic, as one is compelled to do in an academic or professional setting.