TITLE: Two Factors for Succeeding at Research, or Investing
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: April 09, 2015  3:26 PM
DESC: 
-----
BODY:
Think differently, of course.  But be humble.  These attitudes
go hand-in-hand.

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 To make money in the markets, you have to think independently
 and be humble.  You have to be an independent thinker because
 you can't make money agreeing with the consensus view, which
 is already embedded in the price.  Yet whenever you're betting
 against the consensus there's a significant probability you're
 going to be wrong, so you have to be humble.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

This applies equally well to doing research.  You can't make
substantial progress with the conventional wisdom, because it
defines and limits the scope of the solution.  So think
differently.  But when you leave the safety of conventional
wisdom, you find yourself working in an immense space of ideas.
There is a significant chance that you will be wrong a lot.
So be humble.

(The quote is from <EM>Learn or Die: Using Science to Build a
Leading-Edge Learning Organization</EM> by Ray Dalio.)
-----