I have a huge problem with the “Some problems are boring” section, and it basically boils down into the following set of rebuttals:
Some problems may seem boring, but are vital to solve anyway
Some problems may seem boring, but their generalizations are interesting
Problems that seem boring may have really interesting solutions we are unaware of
Every single one of the examples cited in that section falls into this category:
Figuring out if a blotch on a dental CT scan is more likely to indicate a streptococcus or a lactobacillus infection.
Understanding what makes an image used to advertise a hiking pole attractive to middle-class Slovenians over the age of 54.
Figuring out, using l2 data, if the spread for the price of soybean oil is too wide, and whether the bias is towards the sell or buy.
Finding the optimal price at which to pre-sell a new brand of luxury sparkling water based on yet uncertain bottling, transport, and branding cost.
Figuring out if a credit card transaction is likely to be fraudulent based on the customer’s previous buying pattern.
They all have interesting generalizations, applications and potential solutions. Identifying arbitrary blotches on dental CT scans can be generalized to early-stage gum disease prevention. Figuring out optimal pricing for any item can assist in optimal market regulation. Identifying fraud actively makes the world safer and gives us tools to understand how cheaters adapt in real-time to detection events. And, be honest, if the answer to any of these turned not to be trivial at all—if this is what our models point to—no one would be suddenly claiming the problem itself is boring.
I feel really strongly about this because dismissing any problem as “boring” is isomorphic to asking “why do we fund basic science at all if we get no applications from it” or “why study pure math”, and we all ought to know better than to advance a position so well-rebuffed as “it seems really specific and not personally interesting to me, so why should we (as a society/field) care?”
I have a huge problem with the “Some problems are boring” section, and it basically boils down into the following set of rebuttals:
Some problems may seem boring, but are vital to solve anyway
Some problems may seem boring, but their generalizations are interesting
Problems that seem boring may have really interesting solutions we are unaware of
Every single one of the examples cited in that section falls into this category:
They all have interesting generalizations, applications and potential solutions. Identifying arbitrary blotches on dental CT scans can be generalized to early-stage gum disease prevention. Figuring out optimal pricing for any item can assist in optimal market regulation. Identifying fraud actively makes the world safer and gives us tools to understand how cheaters adapt in real-time to detection events. And, be honest, if the answer to any of these turned not to be trivial at all—if this is what our models point to—no one would be suddenly claiming the problem itself is boring.
I feel really strongly about this because dismissing any problem as “boring” is isomorphic to asking “why do we fund basic science at all if we get no applications from it” or “why study pure math”, and we all ought to know better than to advance a position so well-rebuffed as “it seems really specific and not personally interesting to me, so why should we (as a society/field) care?”