# Research Taste Exercises - Chris Olah (2021-01-09)

Source: https://colah.github.io/notes/taste/
Author: Chris Olah
Date: Posted Jan 9, 2021
Fetch-status: excerpted from HTML via browser.
Use: direct source for research-taste training exercises; cited by Nanda's shared draft and public taste post.

## Why this matters for agents

Olah gives concrete exercises for getting more feedback on taste without spending months executing every idea. This is a good reference for an agent asked to help a researcher improve project selection or calibrate idea quality.

## Quotes

> One of the most important aspects of growing as a researcher is developing research taste -- roughly, the ability to chose good problems to work on.

> I think the fundamental issue is that actually testing whether a research idea you come up with is good is very expensive. Often it takes months, so you only really get a few pieces of feedback on your taste every year.

> Many of the following exercises are really strategies for getting (proxy) feedback on more research ideas faster.

> Write down a list of research ideas. Have a mentor you respect rate each idea 1-10. Discuss ideas where you disagree with them after reflection.

> Pay attention when other people try ideas you’ve had. How did the results compare with your expectations?

> Interview researchers around you on their taste. Why do they work on the problems they do? How do they pick problems? What’s their “big picture” of research?

> Critically consider your research taste, and the community taste around you. Your taste is likely very influenced by your research cluster (your collaborators, advisor, etc).

> Failure Mode 1: Getting overly attached to one research direction / falling into sunk costs.

> Failure mode 2: Lack of research knowledge / intimacy.

> Theoretical knowledge is table stakes for research taste. You can’t have research taste in a vacuum.

> Failure mode 3: Environment not aligned with your interests.

## Source graph

Links visible in the post worth follow-up:
- Hamming, You and Your Research: linked via YouTube.
- Michael Nielsen, Principles of Effective Research: https://michaelnielsen.org/blog/principles-of-effective-research/
- Andy Matuschak taste-related thread: linked as Twitter, may need archival route.
