:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       5c603e2c-4dae-465e-abb5-12897ad7466d
:END:
#+title: Tunnel vision
#+date: "2021-07-15 22:21:04 +08:00"
#+date_modified: "2022-05-20 21:56:28 +08:00"
#+language: en


- being invested in an idea that it blocks other ideas;
  this makes it harder to solve new problems where they expect to work similarly from their experience;
  it is a net negative if we force our way with the familiar solution while not understanding the new type of problem
- [[id:9f1f35dd-7cf9-4f47-a9a9-b647e5daa2af][We are more associative than structured]];
  we tend to create connections between different things including new things;
- we may also have to [[id:788f57d1-86de-4ddd-81f5-f4680b04b0ea][Learn how to forget]];
  in a world of quick and constant changes, learning new rules and topics takes up mental resources;
  we have to assign some garbage day at some point;
  unfortunately, we cannot easily do that from our experience as we try to survive by sticking to what we know
- it is present on most experts with their experience on the field;
  but this is also a potential problem for students in training where certain principles are taught then encountering a new idea overall
- a lot of the teaching focuses on explaining things;
  one could try to use specific use cases as [[id:e5d4cb07-d0e6-4bda-b2fc-426240b04f78][Specific use cases are better than step-by-step tutorials]]
- This is the reason why most of the discoveries are made either by young people or those who haven't formally trained for the original field.
- to combat against this, we do [[id:2667d942-48b6-4d1e-b92b-15c2dab645ed][Switching between different topics makes new perspective]]
- by the same principle, we could also let our attention switch at times;
  [[id:0e2c9eaf-f12a-47b2-9c9c-d1a590db131b][Involuntary attention switch is good for preventing tunnel vision]]
- examples:
  + studying about different software engineering principles such as "Don't repeat yourself", modularity, and clean code;
    fully applying those principles even when it is not appropriate — e.g., modularizing files even if it consists of one line, creating a dedicated function if encountered two events even if insignificant
  + being entrenched in an idea that they overlooked simpler solutions by veterans;
    in academia, this situation is often manifested as a supposed school assignments solved by a student like [[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-13/sydney-university-student-solves-quantum-computing-problem/100064328][how a long-standing quantum computing problem was solved by a student with simple modifications to the existing solution]];
    in an unlikely manner, this is also present in speedrunning where tricks and techniques are often discovered by accident by a newcomer trying out things the veterans didn't think to do
- sometimes, this is when we go against the idea of [[id:1bdbdcfa-98f9-4d08-a0dc-ad2f1b9b9ec9][Advice shouldn't be taken literally]]
