A literal quantum leap is a discrete change, typically extremely small [1]. A metaphorical quantum leap is a sudden, large change. I can’t think of a good metaphor for a small but discrete change. I was reaching for such a metaphor recently and my first thought was “quantum leap,” though that would imply something much […]
Category: Creativity
The hard part in becoming a command line wizard
I’ve long been impressed by shell one-liners. They seem like magical incantations. Pipe a few terse commands together, et voilà! Out pops the solution to a problem that would seem to require pages of code. Are these one-liners real or mythology? To some extent, they’re both. Below I’ll give a famous real example. Then I’ll argue […]
Stigler’s law of eponymy and human nature
Stigler’s law of eponymy states that no scientific discovery is named after the first person to discover it. Stephen Stigler acknowledged that he was not the first to realize this. Of course this is just an aphorism. Sometimes discoveries are indeed named after their discoverers. But the times when this isn’t the case are more […]