How to Write Usefully

February 2020 What should an essay be?

2020 年 2 月 一篇论文应该是什么样的？

Many people would say persuasive.

很多人会说有说服力。

That's what a lot of us were taught essays should be.

这就是我们很多人所学的论文应该是什么样的。

But I think we can aim for something more ambitious: that an essay should be useful.

但我认为我们可以追求更雄心勃勃的目标：一篇文章应该是有用的。

To start with, that means it should be correct.

首先，这意味着它应该是正确的。

But it's not enough merely to be correct.

但仅仅正确还不够。

It's easy to make a statement correct by making it vague.

通过使陈述变得模糊很容易使其正确。

That's a common flaw in academic writing, for

这是学术写作中的一个常见缺陷，因为

example.

示例。

If you know nothing at all about an issue, you can't go wrong by saying that the issue is a complex one, that there are many factors to be considered, that it's a mistake to take too simplistic a view of it, and so on.

如果你对一个问题一无所知，你就说这个问题很复杂、需要考虑的因素很多、看问题太简单是错误的等等，这都是不会出错的。

Though no doubt correct, such statements tell the reader nothing.

虽然毫无疑问是正确的，但这样的陈述没有告诉读者什么。

Useful writing makes claims that are as strong as they can be made without becoming false.

有用的写作所提出的主张尽可能有力而不会变得虚假。

For example, it's more useful to say that Pike's Peak is near the

例如，说派克峰位于 (Pike's Peak) 附近会更有用。

middle of Colorado than merely somewhere in Colorado.

科罗拉多州中部而不仅仅是科罗拉多州的某个地方。

But if I say it's in the exact middle of Colorado, I've now gone too far, because it's a bit east of the middle.

但如果我说它位于科罗拉多州的正中部，那我就太过分了，因为它位于中部偏东一点的位置。

Precision and correctness are like opposing forces.

精确性和正确性就像相反的力量。

It's easy to satisfy one if you ignore the other.

如果你忽略另一个，很容易满足一个。

The converse of vaporous academic writing is the bold, but false, rhetoric of demagogues.

空洞的学术写作的反面是煽动者大胆但虚假的言辞。

Useful writing is bold, but true.

有用的写作是大胆的，但却是真实的。

It's also two other things: it tells people something important,

这还有另外两件事：它告诉人们一些重要的事情，

and that at least some of them didn't already know.

至少他们中的一些人还不知道。

Telling people something they didn't know doesn't always mean surprising them.

告诉人们一些他们不知道的事情并不总是意味着让他们感到惊讶。

Sometimes it means telling them something they knew unconsciously but had never put into words.

有时，这意味着告诉他们一些他们无意识地知道但从未用语言表达的事情。

In fact those may be the more valuable insights, because they tend to be more fundamental.

事实上，这些可能是更有价值的见解，因为它们往往更基本。

Let's put them all together.

让我们把它们放在一起。

Useful writing tells people something true and important that they didn't already know, and tells them

有用的写作告诉人们一些他们还不知道的真实而重要的事情，并告诉他们

as unequivocally as possible.

尽可能明确。

Notice these are all a matter of degree.

请注意，这些都是程度问题。

For example, you can't expect an idea to be novel to everyone.

例如，你不能指望一个想法对每个人来说都是新颖的。

Any insight that you have will probably have already been had by at least one of the world's 7 billion people.

您所拥有的任何洞察力可能已经被世界 70 亿人中的至少一个所了解。

But it's sufficient if an idea is novel to a lot of readers.

但如果一个想法对很多读者来说都是新颖的，那就足够了。

Ditto for correctness, importance, and strength.

正确性、重要性和强度也是如此。

In effect the four components are like numbers you can multiply together to get a score

实际上，这四个部分就像数字一样，可以相乘得到分数

for usefulness.

为了有用。

Which I realize is almost awkwardly reductive, but nonetheless true.

我意识到这几乎是令人尴尬的简化，但仍然是事实。

_____ How can you ensure that the things you say are true and novel and important?

_____ 你如何确保你所说的话是真实的、新颖的、重要的？

Believe it or not, there is a trick for doing this.

不管你相信与否，有一个技巧可以做到这一点。

I learned it from my friend Robert Morris, who has a horror of saying anything dumb.

这是我从我的朋友罗伯特·莫里斯那里学到的，他讨厌说蠢话。

His trick is not to say anything unless he's sure it's worth hearing.

他的诀窍是除非他确信值得一听，否则不要说什么。

This makes it hard to get opinions out of him,

这使得很难从他那里得到意见

but when you do, they're usually right.

但当你这样做时，他们通常是对的。

Translated into essay writing, what this means is that if you write a bad sentence, you don't publish it.

翻译成论文写作，这意味着如果你写了一个不好的句子，你就不会发表它。

You delete it and try again.

您将其删除并重试。

Often you abandon whole branches of four or five paragraphs.

通常你会放弃四五个段落的整个分支。

Sometimes a whole essay.

有时是整篇文章。

You can't ensure that every idea you have is good, but you can ensure that every one you publish is, by simply not publishing the ones that aren't.

你不能确保你的每一个想法都是好的，但你可以通过不发布那些不好的想法来确保你发布的每一个想法都是好的。

In the sciences, this is called publication bias, and is considered bad.

在科学中，这称为发表偏见，被认为是不好的。

When some hypothesis you're exploring gets inconclusive results, you're supposed to tell people about that too.

当你正在探索的某些假设得到不确定的结果时，你也应该告诉人们这一点。

But with essay writing, publication bias is the way to go.

但对于论文写作，发表偏见是必经之路。

My strategy is loose, then tight.

我的策略是先松后紧。

I write the first draft of an essay fast, trying out all kinds of ideas.

我快速写出一篇论文的初稿，尝试各种想法。

Then I spend days rewriting it very carefully.

然后我花了几天时间非常仔细地重写它。

I've never tried to count how many times I proofread essays, but

我从来没有试图数过我校对过多少次论文，但是

I'm sure there are sentences I've read 100 times before publishing them.

我确信有些句子在发表之前我已经读过 100 遍了。

When I proofread an essay, there are usually passages that stick out in an annoying way, sometimes because they're clumsily written, and sometimes because I'm not sure they're true.

当我校对一篇文章时，通常会有一些段落以一种令人讨厌的方式突出，有时是因为它们写得很笨拙，有时是因为我不确定它们是否真实。

The annoyance starts out unconscious, but after the tenth reading or so I'm saying "Ugh, that part" each time I hit it.

这种烦恼一开始是无意识的，但在读完第十遍之后，每次我读到它时，我都会说“呃，那部分”。

They become like briars that catch your sleeve as you walk past.

它们就像荆棘一样，当你走过时，它们会抓住你的袖子。

Usually I won't

通常我不会

publish an essay till they're all gone — till I can read through the whole thing without the feeling of anything catching.

发表一篇文章，直到它们都消失为止，直到我可以读完整篇文章，而不会有任何吸引人的感觉。

I'll sometimes let through a sentence that seems clumsy, if I can't think of a way to rephrase it, but I will never knowingly let through one that doesn't seem correct.

有时，如果我想不出一种重新措辞的方法，我会说出一个看起来很笨拙的句子，但我绝不会故意说出一个看起来不正确的句子。

You never have to.

你永远不必这样做。

If a sentence doesn't seem right, all you have to do is ask why it doesn't, and you've usually got the replacement right there in your head.

如果一个句子看起来不对，你所要做的就是问为什么不对，通常你的脑海里就会有替代的句子。

This is where essayists have an advantage over journalists.

这就是散文家比记者更有优势的地方。

You don't have a deadline.

你没有最后期限。

You can work for as long on an essay as you need to get it right.

只要你需要写好一篇论文，你就可以花很长时间来写它。

You don't have to publish the essay at all, if you can't get it right.

如果你做不好的话，你根本不必发表这篇文章。

Mistakes seem to lose courage in the face of an enemy with unlimited resources.

错误似乎在资源无限的敌人面前失去了勇气。

Or that's what it feels like.

或者就是这样的感觉。

What's really going on is that you have different expectations for yourself.

真正发生的事情是你对自己有不同的期望。

You're like a parent saying to a child "we can sit

你就像父母对孩子说“我们可以坐下来”

here all night till you eat your vegetables." Except you're the child too.

整晚都在这里，直到你吃完蔬菜为止。”除非你也是孩子。

I'm not saying no mistake gets through.

我并不是说不会有任何错误。

For example, I added condition (c) in "A Way to Detect Bias" after readers pointed out that I'd omitted it.

例如，在读者指出我省略了条件（c）后，我在“检测偏差的方法”中添加了条件（c）。

But in practice you can catch nearly all of them.

但实际上你几乎可以捕捉到所有这些。

There's a trick for getting importance too.

获得重要性也有一个技巧。

It's like the trick I suggest to young founders for getting startup ideas: to make something

这就像我向年轻创始人建议的获得创业想法的技巧：做点什么

you yourself want.

你自己想要的。

You can use yourself as a proxy for the reader.

您可以使用自己作为读者的代理。

The reader is not completely unlike you, so if you write about topics that seem important to you, they'll probably seem important to a significant number of readers as well.

读者并非完全不同于您，因此，如果您所写的主题对您来说很重要，那么它们可能对相当多的读者来说也很重要。

Importance has two factors.

重要性有两个因素。

It's the number of people something matters to, times how much it matters to them.

这是某件事对多少人来说很重要，乘以这件事对他们来说有多重要。

Which means of course that it's not a rectangle, but a sort of ragged comb, like a Riemann

这当然意味着它不是一个矩形，而是一种参差不齐的梳子，就像黎曼梳子一样

sum.

总和。

The way to get novelty is to write about topics you've thought about a lot.

获得新奇感的方法是写下你经常思考的主题。

Then you can use yourself as a proxy for the reader in this department too.

那么你也可以用自己作为该部门读者的代理人。

Anything you notice that surprises you, who've thought about the topic a lot, will probably also surprise a significant number of readers.

如果你注意到任何令你惊讶的事情，因为你已经对这个话题进行了很多思考，那么也可能会让相当多的读者感到惊讶。

And here, as with correctness and importance, you can use the Morris technique to ensure that you will.

在这里，与正确性和重要性一样，您可以使用莫里斯技术来确保您会这样做。

If you don't learn anything from writing an essay, don't

如果你没有从写论文中学到任何东西，那就不要

publish it.

发布它。

You need humility to measure novelty, because acknowledging the novelty of an idea means acknowledging your previous ignorance of it.

你需要谦虚来衡量新颖性，因为承认一个想法的新颖性意味着承认你以前对它的无知。

Confidence and humility are often seen as opposites, but in this case, as in many others, confidence helps you to be humble.

自信和谦逊通常被视为对立面，但在这种情况下，就像在许多其他情况下一样，自信可以帮助您保持谦虚。

If you know you're an expert on some topic, you can freely admit when you learn something you didn't know, because you can be confident

如果你知道自己是某个主题的专家，那么当你学到一些你不知道的东西时，你可以自由地承认，因为你可以自信

that most other people wouldn't know it either.

大多数其他人也不知道。

The fourth component of useful writing, strength, comes from two things: thinking well, and the skillful use of qualification.

有用写作的第四个组成部分是力量，它来自于两件事：良好的思考和熟练地使用资格。

These two counterbalance each other, like the accelerator and clutch in a car with a manual transmission.

这两者相互平衡，就像手动变速箱汽车中的加速器和离合器一样。

As you try to refine the expression of an idea, you adjust the qualification accordingly.

当您尝试完善想法的表达时，您会相应地调整限定条件。

Something you're sure of, you can state baldly with no qualification at all,

你确信的事情，你可以毫无条件地直言不讳，

as I did the four components of useful writing.

正如我所做的有用写作的四个组成部分一样。

Whereas points that seem dubious have to be held at arm's length with perhapses.

而那些看似可疑的观点则必须与“也许”保持一定的距离。

As you refine an idea, you're pushing in the direction of less qualification.

当你完善一个想法时，你正在朝着更少资格的方向前进。

But you can rarely get it down to zero.

但你很少能把它降到零。

Sometimes you don't even want to, if it's a side point and a fully refined version would be too long.

有时你甚至不想这样做，如果它是一个侧面，并且完全完善的版本会太长。

Some say that qualifications weaken writing.

有人说资格削弱了写作能力。

For example, that you

例如，你

should never begin a sentence in an essay with "I think," because if you're saying it, then of course you think it.

文章中的句子永远不应该以“我认为”开头，因为如果你这么说，那么你当然也这么认为。

And it's true that "I think x" is a weaker statement than simply "x." Which is exactly why you need "I think." You need it to express your degree of certainty.

确实，“我认为 x”是一个比简单的“x”更弱的陈述。这正是你需要“我认为”的原因。你需要它来表达你的确定程度。

But qualifications are not scalars.

但资格并不是标量。

They're not just experimental error.

它们不仅仅是实验错误。

There must be 50 things they can express: how broadly something

他们必须能够表达 50 件事：某事有多广泛

applies, how you know it, how happy you are it's so, even how it could be falsified.

适用，你如何知道它，你有多高兴它是如此，甚至它如何可能被伪造。

I'm not going to try to explore the structure of qualification here.

我不打算尝试在这里探索资格的结构。

It's probably more complex than the whole topic of writing usefully.

它可能比整个有用写作主题更复杂。

Instead I'll just give you a practical tip: Don't underestimate qualification.

相反，我只会给你一个实用的建议：不要低估资格。

It's an important skill in its own right, not just a sort of tax you have to pay in order to avoid saying things that are false.

这本身就是一项重要的技能，而不仅仅是为了避免说假话而必须缴纳的一种税。

So learn and use its full range.

所以学习并使用它的全部范围。

It may not be fully half of having good ideas, but it's part of having them.

这可能不完全是拥有好想法的一半，但它是拥有好想法的一部分。

There's one other quality I aim for in essays: to say things as simply as possible.

我在论文中追求的另一个品质是：尽可能简单地表达事物。

But I don't think this is a component of usefulness.

但我认为这不是有用性的组成部分。

It's more a matter of consideration for the reader.

这更多的是为读者考虑的问题。

And it's a practical aid in getting things right; a mistake is more obvious when expressed in simple language.

它是把事情做好的实际帮助；用简单的语言表达时，错误会更加明显。

But I'll admit that the

但我承认

main reason I write simply is not for the reader's sake or because it helps get things right, but because it bothers me to use more or fancier words than I need to.

我写作的主要原因不是为了读者，也不是因为它有助于把事情做好，而是因为使用比我需要的更多或更奇特的词语让我烦恼。

It seems inelegant, like a program that's too long.

这看起来很不优雅，就像一个太长的程序。

I realize florid writing works for some people.

我意识到华丽的写作对某些人来说是有效的。

But unless you're sure you're one of them, the best advice is to write as simply as you can.

但除非您确定自己是其中之一，否则最好的建议是尽可能写得简单。

_____ I believe the formula I've given you, importance + novelty +

_____ 我相信我给你的公式，重要性+新颖性+

correctness + strength, is the recipe for a good essay.

正确+有力，是一篇好文章的秘诀。

But I should warn you that it's also a recipe for making people mad.

但我应该警告你，这也是让人生气的秘诀。

The root of the problem is novelty.

问题的根源在于新颖性。

When you tell people something they didn't know, they don't always thank you for it.

当你告诉人们一些他们不知道的事情时，他们并不总是为此感谢你。

Sometimes the reason people don't know something is because they don't want to know it.

有时候，人们不知道某事的原因是因为他们不想知道。

Usually because it contradicts some cherished belief.

通常是因为它与某些珍视的信念相矛盾。

And indeed, if you're looking for novel ideas, popular but mistaken

事实上，如果您正在寻找流行但错误的新颖想法

beliefs are a good place to find them.

信念是找到它们的好地方。

Every popular mistaken belief creates a dead zone of ideas around it that are relatively unexplored because they contradict it.

每一个流行的错误信念都会在其周围产生一个思想的死区，这些思想相对未被探索，因为它们与它相矛盾。

The strength component just makes things worse.

力量成分只会让事情变得更糟。

If there's anything that annoys people more than having their cherished assumptions contradicted, it's having them flatly contradicted.

如果说还有什么比人们所珍视的假设遭到矛盾更让人恼火的话，那就是这些假设遭到彻底的驳斥。

Plus if you've used the Morris technique, your writing will seem

另外，如果你使用了莫里斯技巧，你的写作就会看起来

quite confident.

相当有信心。

Perhaps offensively confident, to people who disagree with you.

对于不同意你观点的人来说，也许是一种进攻性的自信。

The reason you'll seem confident is that you are confident: you've cheated, by only publishing the things you're sure of.

你看起来很自信的原因是你很自信：你已经作弊了，因为你只发布了你确信的事情。

It will seem to people who try to disagree with you that you never admit you're wrong.

对于那些试图反对你的人来说，你似乎从不承认自己错了。

In fact you constantly admit you're wrong.

事实上，你不断地承认自己错了。

You just do it before publishing instead of after.

您只需在发布之前而不是之后进行即可。

And if your writing is as simple as possible, that just makes things

如果你的写作尽可能简单，那就会让事情变得简单

worse.

更糟。

Brevity is the diction of command.

简洁是命令的用语。

If you watch someone delivering unwelcome news from a position of inferiority, you'll notice they tend to use lots of words, to soften the blow.

如果你看到某人从低人一等的角度传达不受欢迎的消息，你会发现他们往往会使用大量的言语来减轻打击。

Whereas to be short with someone is more or less to be rude to them.

然而，对某人简短或多或少就是对他们的粗鲁。

It can sometimes work to deliberately phrase statements more weakly than you mean.

有时故意用比你的本意更弱的措辞来表达陈述是有效的。

To put "perhaps" in front of something you're actually quite sure of.

把“也许”放在你实际上非常确定的事情前面。

But you'll notice that when writers do this, they

但你会注意到，当作家这样做时，他们

usually do it with a wink.

通常眨眼即可完成。

I don't like to do this too much.

我不太喜欢这样做。

It's cheesy to adopt an ironic tone for a whole essay.

对整篇文章采用讽刺的语气是很俗气的。

I think we just have to face the fact that elegance and curtness are two names for the same thing.

我认为我们必须面对这样一个事实：优雅和简洁是同一件事的两个名字。

You might think that if you work sufficiently hard to ensure that an essay is correct, it will be invulnerable to attack.

你可能会认为，如果你足够努力以确保一篇文章是正确的，那么它就会无懈可击。

That's sort of true.

确实如此。

It will be invulnerable to valid attacks.

它将不会受到有效攻击。

But in practice

但在实践中

that's little consolation.

这没什么安慰。

In fact, the strength component of useful writing will make you particularly vulnerable to misrepresentation.

事实上，有用写作的优势部分会让你特别容易受到歪曲。

If you've stated an idea as strongly as you could without making it false, all anyone has to do is to exaggerate slightly what you said, and now it is false.

如果你尽可能强烈地表达了一个想法而不让它变得错误，那么任何人所要做的就是稍微夸大你所说的话，现在它是错误的。

Much of the time they're not even doing it deliberately.

很多时候他们甚至不是故意这样做的。

One of the most surprising things you'll discover, if you start writing essays,

如果你开始写论文，你会发现最令人惊讶的事情之一，

is that people who disagree with you rarely disagree with what you've actually written.

不同意你观点的人很少不同意你实际写的内容。

Instead they make up something you said and disagree with that.

相反，他们会编造一些你说过的话，但并不同意。

For what it's worth, the countermove is to ask someone who does this to quote a specific sentence or passage you wrote that they believe is false, and explain why.

不管怎样，反措施是要求这样做的人引用你写的他们认为是错误的特定句子或段落，并解释原因。

I say "for what it's worth" because they never do.

我说“物有所值”，因为他们从来不这样做。

So although it might seem that this could

所以虽然这看起来可能

get a broken discussion back on track, the truth is that it was never on track in the first place.

让一场破裂的讨论回到正轨，事实是它从一开始就没有走上正轨。

Should you explicitly forestall likely misinterpretations?

您是否应该明确阻止可能的误解？

Yes, if they're misinterpretations a reasonably smart and well-intentioned person might make.

是的，如果它们是一个相当聪明且善意的人可能会做出的误解。

In fact it's sometimes better to say something slightly misleading and then add the correction than to try to get an idea right in one shot.

事实上，有时候，说一些稍微有误导性的话，然后进行更正，比试图一次性得到一个想法要好。

That can be more efficient, and can also

这样可以更有效率，也可以

model the way such an idea would be discovered.

模拟发现这种想法的方式。

But I don't think you should explicitly forestall intentional misinterpretations in the body of an essay.

但我认为你不应该在论文正文中明确阻止故意的误解。

An essay is a place to meet honest readers.

论文是结识诚实读者的地方。

You don't want to spoil your house by putting bars on the windows to protect against dishonest ones.

您不想在窗户上安装铁栏以防止不诚实的人破坏您的房子。

The place to protect against intentional misinterpretations is in end-notes.

防止故意误解的地方是在尾注中。

But don't think you can predict them all.

但不要认为你可以预测所有这些。

People are as ingenious

人们同样聪明

at misrepresenting you when you say something they don't want to hear as they are at coming up with rationalizations for things they want to do but know they shouldn't.

当你说一些他们不想听的话时，他们会曲解你的意思，因为他们会为他们想做但知道不应该做的事情找到合理的理由。

I suspect it's the same skill.

我怀疑是同一个技能。

_____ As with most other things, the way to get better at writing essays is to practice.

_____ 与大多数其他事情一样，提高论文写作水平的方法就是练习。

But how do you start?

但你如何开始呢？

Now that we've examined the structure of useful writing, we can rephrase that question more

现在我们已经检查了有用写作的结构，我们可以更多地重新表述这个问题

precisely.

准确地说。

Which constraint do you relax initially?

您最初放松哪一个约束？

The answer is, the first component of importance: the number of people who care about what you write.

答案是，第一个重要组成部分：关心你所写内容的人数。

If you narrow the topic sufficiently, you can probably find something you're an expert on.

如果您充分缩小主题范围，您可能会找到您擅长的内容。

Write about that to start with.

首先写一下这个。

If you only have ten readers who care, that's fine.

如果你只有十个关心的读者，那也没关系。

You're helping them, and you're writing.

你在帮助他们，你在写作。

Later you can expand the breadth of topics you write

稍后您可以扩大所写主题的广度

about.

关于。

The other constraint you can relax is a little surprising: publication.

您可以放松的另一个限制有点令人惊讶：出版。

Writing essays doesn't have to mean publishing them.

写论文并不一定意味着发表它们。

That may seem strange now that the trend is to publish every random thought, but it worked for me.

现在的趋势是发布每一个随机的想法，这可能看起来很奇怪，但它对我有用。

I wrote what amounted to essays in notebooks for about 15 years.

我在笔记本上写了大约 15 年的论文。

I never published any of them and never expected to.

我从未发表过其中任何一篇，也从未想过会发表。

I wrote them as a way of figuring things out.

我写它们是为了解决问题。

But when the web

但当网络

came along I'd had a lot of practice.

来的时候我已经做了很多练习。

Incidentally, Steve Wozniak did the same thing.

顺便说一句，史蒂夫·沃兹尼亚克也做了同样的事情。

In high school he designed computers on paper for fun.

高中时，他出于兴趣在纸上设计了计算机。

He couldn't build them because he couldn't afford the components.

他无法建造它们，因为他买不起组件。

But when Intel launched 4K DRAMs in 1975, he was ready.

但当英特尔于 1975 年推出 4K DRAM 时，他已经做好了准备。

_____ How many essays are there left to write though?

_____ 还有多少论文要写？

The answer to that question is probably the most exciting thing I've learned about essay writing.

这个问题的答案可能是我在论文写作中学到的最令人兴奋的事情。

Nearly all of them are left to write.

几乎所有的人都留下来写作。

Although the essay is an old form, it hasn't been assiduously cultivated.

散文虽然是一种古老的形式，但并没有经过刻苦修养。

In the print era, publication was expensive, and there wasn't enough demand for essays to publish that many.

在印刷时代，出版费用昂贵，而且没有足够的需求来出版那么多论文。

You could publish essays if you were already well known for writing something else, like novels.

如果您已经因写小说等其他作品而闻名，您可以发表论文。

Or you could write book reviews that you took over to express your own ideas.

或者你可以写书评来表达你自己的想法。

But there was not really a direct path to becoming an essayist.

但成为一名散文家并没有真正的直接途径。

Which meant few essays got written,

这意味着写的论文很少，

and those that did tended to be about a narrow range of subjects.

而那些确实发生过的事情往往涉及的主题范围很窄。

Now, thanks to the internet, there's a path.

现在，多亏了互联网，有了一条路。

Anyone can publish essays online.

任何人都可以在线发表论文。

You start in obscurity, perhaps, but at least you can start.

也许你是默默无闻地开始的，但至少你可以开始。

You don't need anyone's permission.

你不需要任何人的许可。

It sometimes happens that an area of knowledge sits quietly for years, till some change makes it explode.

有时，某个知识领域会沉寂多年，直到某些变化使其爆发。

Cryptography did this to number theory.

密码学对数论做到了这一点。

The internet is doing it to the essay.

互联网正在对这篇文章做这件事。

The exciting thing is not that there's a lot left to write, but that there's a lot left to discover.

令人兴奋的不是还有很多东西有待写，而是还有很多东西有待发现。

There's a certain kind of idea that's best discovered by writing essays.

有一种想法最好通过写论文来发现。

If most essays are still unwritten, most such ideas are still undiscovered.

如果说大多数论文还没有写出来，那么大多数这样的想法仍然未被发现。

Notes [1] Put railings on the balconies, but don't put bars on the windows.

注意事项 [1] 阳台上加栏杆，但窗户上不要加栏杆。

[2] Even now I sometimes write essays that are not meant for publication.

[2] 即使是现在，我有时也会写一些不打算发表的文章。

I wrote several to figure out what Y Combinator should

我写了几篇文章来弄清楚 Y Combinator 应该做什么

do, and they were really helpful.

这样做，他们真的很有帮助。

Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Daniel Gackle, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris for reading drafts of this.

感谢 Trevor Blackwell、Daniel Gackle、Jessica Livingston 和 Robert Morris 阅读本文的草稿。