Interesting that he's essentially saying all the places where this kind of deep skunkwork / research is "supposed" to happen (startups, universities, government, etc) have all prioritised or been captured by other incentives.
Weirdly almost feels analogous to the whole "loss of a third space" conversation: we're losing places that can actually (afford to) invest in deep research and exploration.
gonzo41 · 18h ago
I currently work for a research oriented organization. The incentive structures for the research staff, firstly atomize the staff and secondly directly work against the organization goals of being able to get impactful things done.
notarobot123 · 19h ago
I love the idea of "industrial research" that's somewhere between the castle-in-the-sky thinking of academia and cold rationalism of market-oriented product development.
The fact that Ink & Switch researchers are focusing on "authentic use" without the pressure to find product-market-fit means they can effectively scout the terrain and signpost the fruitful paths.
Imagine if today's tech monopolies were compelled to invest in this kind of research (just like AT&T was). It would create a hot-bed of innovation and new avenues would open up for startups to explore. I wish we had more research groups like this.
bitmasher9 · 19h ago
Everyone tries to replicate bell labs, but no one has been close. Simply spending the money isn’t enough to get there.
notarobot123 · 18h ago
This is exactly why the "hollywood model" of fast iterative cycles of focused peer-evaluated research is such an exciting development.
I think Ink & Switch are presenting a model for industrial research that could absolutely be replicated by other teams following a similar style of output-oriented work.
kjkjadksj · 15h ago
I feel like that would lead to burnout of the staff working at that pace for a career.
What would be interesting if we could be empowered to go back to that say 19th century idea of the reasearcher. You know, someone with all their wants and needs seemingly acceptably met, tinkering on some obsession they have in their workshop/lab on their own property or out collecting data around the world. Only with modern technology and ideas of course.
bitmasher9 · 7h ago
I think it’s fair that a 19th century style of life doesn’t exist in the 21st century.
gsf_emergency · 1d ago
For those like me who weren't familiar with the speaker's research, this could be interesting:
I would love to know who the speaker is without having to watch a video.
DavidPiper · 18h ago
I agree with you, but also 0:37.
> Peter has worked as an Arctic oceanographer, a game developer, he's wrangled millions of Postgres databases and he's now executive director of Ink & Switch where he plots the future of tools for thought.
Weirdly almost feels analogous to the whole "loss of a third space" conversation: we're losing places that can actually (afford to) invest in deep research and exploration.
The fact that Ink & Switch researchers are focusing on "authentic use" without the pressure to find product-market-fit means they can effectively scout the terrain and signpost the fruitful paths.
Imagine if today's tech monopolies were compelled to invest in this kind of research (just like AT&T was). It would create a hot-bed of innovation and new avenues would open up for startups to explore. I wish we had more research groups like this.
I think Ink & Switch are presenting a model for industrial research that could absolutely be replicated by other teams following a similar style of output-oriented work.
What would be interesting if we could be empowered to go back to that say 19th century idea of the reasearcher. You know, someone with all their wants and needs seemingly acceptably met, tinkering on some obsession they have in their workshop/lab on their own property or out collecting data around the world. Only with modern technology and ideas of course.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=2&prefix=true&que...
> Peter has worked as an Arctic oceanographer, a game developer, he's wrangled millions of Postgres databases and he's now executive director of Ink & Switch where he plots the future of tools for thought.