“Why do we fight?”

This quote is used in at least three epic fantasy novels (albiet all written by the same author…, but then maybe that’s more a statement about the books I read…).

Brandon Sanderson, Rhythm of War:

! “Why do we fight, Kal? Why do we keep going?” “I don’t know,” Kaladin whispered. “I’ve forgotten.” “It’s so we can be with each other.” “They all die, Tien. Everyone dies.” “So they do, don’t they?” “That means it doesn’t matter,” Kaladin said. “None of it matters.” “See, that’s the wrong way of looking at it.” Tien held him tighter. “Since we all go to the same place in the end, the moments we spent with each other are the only things that do matter. The times we helped each other.”

Brandon Sanderson Oathbringer:

! “The question,’ she replied, ’is not whether you will love, hurt, dream, and die. It is what you will love, why you will hurt, when you will dream, and how you will die. This is your choice. You cannot pick the destination, only the path.”

Robert Jordan / Brandon Sanderson, Memory of Light:

! ok I couldn’t really find the “Memory of Light” quote. But that one is less meaningful to me anyways because I forgot about all the characters.

So, what does it mean? I guess first I can briefly explain in the context of the characters mentioned above.

Quote 1: Kaladin has lost a lot of loved ones to tragedy in very traumatic ways. He cares deeply for people and blames himself when harm befalls his friends.

Quote 2: (I’m kind making this up here. I don’t actually remember the context of the quote but this seems a reasonable made-up context) Dalinar is trying to be honorable / virtuous. But this set him up to be taken advantage of by someone. He’s reflecting on whether he wishes he had changed, been less trusting or whatever, and he decides that he’s pretty satisfied with his life.

ok, but what does this mean to me? “Why do we fight?” means a couple of things to me I guess.

The basic idea is “Why do persist in doing hard things?”. For example, I might ask after a “drought” of results in research “Why keep trying on this problem?”. Or maybe the question makes more sense in the context of set-backs. For instance, recently in my research I worked really hard for a week or two straight on a single problem. I eventually got what I thought was a really neat solution. And then I found a paper that seemed to have already proven this same result. (It turns out that they actually didn’t prove the same result. But that’s besides the point). And then my friend realized that the result would not extend in the way that I wanted to larger cases.

After trying really hard at something and then failing I think it’s very natural to feel distress over the time spent on it. Ah, but that’s interesting. Two sentances ago I said something about failing.

Tien to Kaladin “You can’t fail, if you truly understand”

So, what is it that we are supposed to understand?

It’s important to understand that we can’t determine “results”. E.g., I can’t decide whether I will solve a math problem I’m thinking about. I can’t decide whether or not someone else will have already solved the problem. I can’t decide if a certain approach will work.

Now, at this point the “driven” reader might object:

Isn’t it important to believe that you will succeed when trying a math problem?

There is some truth to this. It really is true that all the coolest results I’ve ever proven have only come when I believe that I can solve a problem.

I think that focussing intensely on a problem for a prolonged interval of time, even when uncomfortable, can be good. But I think it’s important to not get too tunnel-visioned.

For instance in this recent result that I was talking about, it was really important that I read some literature on some adjacent problems.

It’s important to understand that the point isn’t the result. Yes, there are some results that sound super cool. But, you have to realize, even that is not intrinsic. To see this, observe that if you gave a lot of statements that sound super cool to me to someone who can’t read math then they wouldn’t think it is so cool. But anyways, its important to work on problems that, even if you never solve the problem, you’ll still be glad you worked on it.

The expenditure of effort. The random weird notation and names that you make up to describe the problem. The focus that comes when every single thing that you read you instantly think of whether and how this could apply to your problem.

It’s important to be ok with being stuck. To be delighted by it even. It’s important to love the problem enough to want to notice your fake solves. It’s important to also be ok when you back-slide, when something you thought you knew turns out to be wrong. Often if a lemma turns out to be false its patchable.

It’s important to do zumba. By which I mean: (a) strenuous physical activity, (b) some kind of social activity, (c) something really fun. Actually zumba might be a good model for research.

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So to summarize, the five keys to doing healthy research are:

9. Don’t get too tunnel-visioned. Read other stuff and try a variety of angles
10. Clarify your success criterion: realize that the value lies in seeking truth far more than obtaining it.
11. Be willing to move on / give a problem a break.
12. Come up with silly notation
13. Physical exercise
14. Social exercise
15. Eat some good food
16. Adequate and healthy sleep
17. collaborate.
18. Tell everyone about your research.

So, why do we fight? It is not in search of glory, validation, happiness, not an attempt to fill a void of self. It is not because the fight always feels great. We fight because it’s epic to.