Galenson's book on artists fascinated me: he identified two clusters, experimental artists who liked to sketch and rework things and whose quality increased with age, and conceptual artists, who liked doing preparatory work and outsourcing the actual production, who made massive contributions when young but whose productivity rapidly tapered off.
With art, there's room for both types, but I imagine that math and related fields are heavily biased towards the conceptual style, especially the theoretical components of those fields.
Actually, one of the first things that new researchers have to learn is that just thinking about a problem and coming up with ideas will get you nowhere -- you have to actually get your hands dirty and try things out to make progress.
Series: How to Purchase AI Risk Reduction
Here is yet another way to purchase AI risk reduction...
Much of the work needed for Friendly AI and improved algorithmic decision theories requires researchers to invent new math. That's why the Singularity Institute's recruiting efforts have been aimed a talent in math and computer science. Specifically, we're looking for young talent in math and compsci, because young talent is (1) more open to considering radical ideas like AI risk, (2) not yet entrenched in careers and status games, and (3) better at inventing new math (due to cognitive decline with age).
So how can the Singularity Institute reach out to young math/compsci talent? Perhaps surprisingly, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is one of the best tools we have for this. It is read by a surprisingly large proportion of people in math and CS departments. Here are some other projects we have in the works:
Here are some things we could be doing if we had sufficient funding: