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Passion & Curiosity:Aesthetic sensibility in the cultivation of
science
Rajat Mani ThomasNetherlands Institute for Neuroscience
Thursday, June 13, 2013
From Electronics to Neuroscience
via Cosmology
Jitter
Thursday, June 13, 2013
From Electronics to Neuroscience
via Cosmology
• My personal story :
Jitter
Thursday, June 13, 2013
From Electronics to Neuroscience
via Cosmology
• My personal story :
• Ingredients : Passion + Chance ( passion, curiosity ) Jitter
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Our responsibilityWe are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
Richard P. Feynman
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Have fun• A cafeteria plate that led to QED and
Nobel Prize
• Catching the wave becomes the soliton
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Have fun• A cafeteria plate that led to QED and
Nobel Prize
• Catching the wave becomes the soliton
When can this happen?
Thursday, June 13, 2013
... Not when you over optimize
Thursday, June 13, 2013
... Not when you over optimize
• Optimizing your code on first attempt - bad idea
Thursday, June 13, 2013
... Not when you over optimize
• Optimizing your code on first attempt - bad idea
• First great draft for your scientific paper - bad idea
Thursday, June 13, 2013
... Not when you over optimize
• Optimizing your code on first attempt - bad idea
• First great draft for your scientific paper - bad idea
• Achieve perfection Artificial Intelligence - bad idea
Thursday, June 13, 2013
... Not when you over optimize
• Optimizing your code on first attempt - bad idea
• First great draft for your scientific paper - bad idea
• Achieve perfection Artificial Intelligence - bad idea
Thursday, June 13, 2013
... Not when you over optimize
• Optimizing your code on first attempt - bad idea
• First great draft for your scientific paper - bad idea
• Achieve perfection Artificial Intelligence - bad idea
• Get a broad stroke out
Thursday, June 13, 2013
... Not when you over optimize
• Optimizing your code on first attempt - bad idea
• First great draft for your scientific paper - bad idea
• Achieve perfection Artificial Intelligence - bad idea
• Get a broad stroke out
Thursday, June 13, 2013
... Not when you over optimize
• Optimizing your code on first attempt - bad idea
• First great draft for your scientific paper - bad idea
• Achieve perfection Artificial Intelligence - bad idea
• Get a broad stroke out
Fodder for discussion
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Popular advice: Find your niche
• Do not ignore: Generation gap (tn)
time
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Popular advice: Find your niche
• Do not ignore: Generation gap (tn)
time
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Popular advice: Find your niche
• Do not ignore: Generation gap (tn)
time
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Popular advice: Find your niche
• Do not ignore: Generation gap (tn)
time
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Develop “translational” skills along the way
• Pattern driven concurrent softwares
• Commoditization (Transferable but competitive)
Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.
Richard P. Feynman
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Connections: literally
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Connections: literally
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Connections: literally
• Decision theory Vs Galaxy formation ?
• What Neuroscientists could learn from Astrophysicists?
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The joy of finding things out
Rutherford
A single observation revolutionizes Physics!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The joy of finding things out
Rutherford
A single observation revolutionizes Physics!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Science for a scientist
• Scientific values consist in the continual and increasing recognition of the uniformity of nature.
S. Chandreshekar (1946)
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Data driven methods
• Step 1 : Discover them patterns.
• Step II : Check for its robustness, i.e., statistics
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Data driven methods
• Step 1 : Discover them patterns.
• Step II : Check for its robustness, i.e., statistics
Why ?
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Data data data ...
• The hottest (demand-wise) job of the future: data analyst (highly transferable)
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Data data data ...
• The hottest (demand-wise) job of the future: data analyst (highly transferable)
Why ?
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Provocations
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Provocations• Stability : Anti-adventure
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Provocations• Stability : Anti-adventure
One life, live it!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Provocations• Stability : Anti-adventure
One life, live it!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Provocations• Stability : Anti-adventure
One life, live it!
Stay hungry, stay foolish ...
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Keyser’s example
Comfort zone
Adventure
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Let’s make life an adventure
that is Scientific Thinking
Thursday, June 13, 2013