[trunnell]

I disagree on the orthogonality of being ingratiating and discovering things.

Sometimes discovery must be done collaboratively. When this is the case, it can be more effective to mind one's social graces. Otherwise, productivity relies on other people ignoring negative social cues. I wouldn't take that bet.

[billswift]

Discovery like creation is the act of a single mind; the discovery or creation often needs to be fleshed out to be really useful, which is often done collaboratively. But without that initial lonely insight collaboration is worthless.