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Hacker News Comments on
Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective

Kenneth O. Stanley, Joel Lehman · 6 HN points · 5 HN comments
HN Books has aggregated all Hacker News stories and comments that mention "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective" by Kenneth O. Stanley, Joel Lehman.
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Amazon Summary
Why does modern life revolve around objectives? From how science is funded, to improving how children are educated -- and nearly everything in-between -- our society has become obsessed with a seductive illusion: that greatness results from doggedly measuring improvement in the relentless pursuit of an ambitious goal. In Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned, Stanley and Lehman begin with a surprising scientific discovery in artificial intelligence that leads ultimately to the conclusion that the objective obsession has gone too far. They make the case that great achievement can't be bottled up into mechanical metrics; that innovation is not driven by narrowly focused heroic effort; and that we would be wiser (and the outcomes better) if instead we whole-heartedly embraced serendipitous discovery and playful creativity. Controversial at its heart, yet refreshingly provocative, this book challenges readers to consider life without a destination and discovery without a compass.
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Hacker News Stories and Comments

All the comments and stories posted to Hacker News that reference this book.
I recommend this book https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/3319155237?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_... . It makes a clear case why trying to aim certain objective, when it comes to innovation, doesn't necessarily work and we still need "aimless wandering" and the pursuit of pure knowledge is a good guidance when it comes to that.
⬐
Dec 07, 2019 · avindroth on The Lesson to Unlearn
I am surprised this book is not mentioned. Talks about how optimization doesn't lead to optimal goals in complex environments (e.g. life).

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Greatness-Cannot-Planned-Objectiv...

This is a good book on the subject: "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective" https://www.amazon.com/Why-Greatness-Cannot-Planned-Objectiv...
⬐ antt
Much obliged, that book looks interesting.
The kindle version on Amazon [0] is slightly cheaper at $16.19.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/Why-Greatness-Cannot-Planned-Objective...

Kenneth O. Stanley and Joel Lehman have a great book out on measuring novelty, and using it to search large parameter spaces for interesting behaviors.

http://eplex.cs.ucf.edu/noveltysearch/userspage/ http://www.amazon.com/Why-Greatness-Cannot-Planned-Objective...

I'm a big fan, and would love to talk about this anytime.

⬐ ced
I wonder how many people mistakenly bought it as a self-help book :)

It looks very interesting. What do you feel are the main take-aways with regard to reinforcement learning?

Aug 03, 2015 · 6 points, 0 comments · submitted by signaler
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