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by hinkley 3313 days ago
It's not always that way though. We often suffer as if we have unique problems, but through house repairs (got a nice long chat with a couple GCs) and extracurriculars, I find that a lot of my problems look a good bit like other people's problems. I think the surface area thing is overblown.

There are always stories about innovators who simply apply established solutions from problem space A to problem space B and everyone is amazed. The surface area problem certainly exists for the entire domain of human knowledge, but domains pretty much exist to wrangle problems that are manageable in the first place, even if it makes you myopic in the process.

I get frustrated in interviews because everyone is just so convinced that the latest utility module is so new and unique and it's really just a retread of five other things. It might have some interesting semantics that change how you use it, but even that isn't always the case.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

I've just started telling people that 'how' ages faster than 'why'.