Hacker News Reader

Comment by saxonklaxon | Hacker News Reader

It takes creativity and effort to look the part. It takes creativity and effort to be normal. Which means less creativity has been applied elsewhere like to something important.

View on HN

Yeah but on a scale of "1 to Surgeon" how much creativity is really traded off in how someone dresses?

14 years of schooling vs 30 min on the internet?

I'd say the effort trade off is statistically insignificant.

Good point. However cargo-culting other surgeons subtly and fashionably and well enough to fool promotion committees into overlooking mediocre performance might take more creativity than you think. For one thing surgeons are intelligent, status-oriented, complicated creatures. It's not just about picking the right clothing. Not giving the game away by your demeanour may require that you fool yourself too. Such narcissism might take a herculean effort to maintain because your ideas about yourself are connected to other, more objective, ideas. You might have to organise professional conferences and get involved in politics, which always take a psychological toll. If your attention is on the wrong things this could indicate that privately you don't believe your surgical performance is up to much or that it can be improved. Which may turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Looking the part takes less effort than you might think. One study showed that men who shave spend the same amount of time in the bathroom as men who don't on average despite the fact shaving takes time.

The key would be asking if their resultant hygiene or other important metrics are equivalent

I could save time in the bathroom by not washing my hands, but I'd rather not.

Creative people apply creativity to all aspects of their life. I don't see it as a resource which must be rationed

Reply on news.ycombinator.com