Kyle Harrison
to-read
Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned
Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective
- Author
- Kenneth O. Stanley, Joel Lehman
- Published
- 2015
- Pages
- 141
- Recommended
- 2 times
Why it’s on the list: Two AI researchers generalise a finding from their own open-ended search experiments: past a certain ambition, setting the objective is what prevents you from reaching it, because the stepping stones to a great outcome do not look like that outcome. Their prescription is novelty search — collect interesting things and let the destination emerge.
Where I saw it: Saved twice in the note, both times as the same Amazon link. Also already referenced in the wiki from I’m Very Biased to Agree… (tweet).
Connections
- Serendipity — the mechanism the book formalises.
- I’m Very Biased to Agree… (tweet) — where this book already appears in the corpus, via Patrick O’Shaughnessy.
- Technological Innovation — the portfolio idea this sits closest to.