Standing on The Shoulders of Giants
The highest leverage thing to do for learning is finding those who are the best in their field and learn from them. These elite people, who became top of a field, commonly share similar mental models that are universal in every field. For everyone, including Newton or Einstein, >99% of their knowledge came from the giants before them, they made such an impact because they could put something new on top of the skyscraper built by previous ones.
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants" —Newton
Nanos gigantum humeris insidentes (dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants)
Other relevant: - In any field, top 1% have 99% of the talent and knowledge - make friends with greats - ![[Frank Wilczek's algorithm to getting best in a field (3 main advices)]]
https://x.com/theJayAlto/status/1941958781274816754 - "you aren't the average of the five people you spend the most time with. you're the average of the five people you spend the most time consuming. read timeless biographies. watch old interviews. follow the obsessed. study iconic lectures. brainwash yourself with greatness."
- Donald Knuth - My advice to young people (9397) — [[Standing on The Shoulders of Giants]] > **Donald Knuth (b. 1938)**, American computing pioneer, is known for his gr...
- Fireside Chat with DHH, Matz and Tobias Lütke - Rails World 2024 (archived) — DHH emphasis on stealing the best ideas! [[Standing on The Shoulders of Giants]]. Best guys always do that. They have...
- Renaissance Man — [^1]: [[Standing on The Shoulders of Giants]]
- Software GOATs — See [[Standing on The Shoulders of Giants]]
- The Munger Operating System How to Live a Life That Really Works — Learn to love and admire the right people, alive or dead. [[Standing on The Shoulders of Giants]]
- who became the best brain - a deep learning training analogy — - that lets to seek for highest quality data (e.g. data from [[Standing on The Shoulders of Giants|giants]])