Comments on: Four nice search and optimization thesis projects I will not be doing, principally because a surprising number of search and optimization practitioners make me very tired http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects Pontification without all the gritty gravitas Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:42:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Tozier http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects#comment-713 Tozier Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:55:54 +0000 http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects-i-will-not-be-doing-principally-because-many-search-and-optimization-practitioners-piss-me-off#comment-713 No, wait, it gets better. Somewhere in some earlier post is the biographical tidbit that I was <i>kicked out</i> of school for being a bad molecular biologist (because I had too much of an engineer's attitude, as I see it; plus I called my superiors "boring empiricists" too often to their faces, I think, which is not a contradiction). And <i>then</i> I became a consultant. Doing the same stuff. But for companies. And now I'm back for Ph.D. 2.0. Gotta love abused spouse syndrome. Keep farming. Trust me. No, wait, it gets better. Somewhere in some earlier post is the biographical tidbit that I was kicked out of school for being a bad molecular biologist (because I had too much of an engineer’s attitude, as I see it; plus I called my superiors “boring empiricists” too often to their faces, I think, which is not a contradiction). And then I became a consultant. Doing the same stuff. But for companies. And now I’m back for Ph.D. 2.0.

Gotta love abused spouse syndrome.

Keep farming. Trust me.

]]> By: The Guy http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects#comment-712 The Guy Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:13:55 +0000 http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects-i-will-not-be-doing-principally-because-many-search-and-optimization-practitioners-piss-me-off#comment-712 Ahhhggg! Your discussion of your thesis compelled me to drop out of school and take up contract consulting. No, wait, I already did that. Thank god! But seriously, keep up the excruciating work, that way I won't feel the need to try. Ahhhggg! Your discussion of your thesis compelled me to drop out of school and take up contract consulting. No, wait, I already did that. Thank god!
But seriously, keep up the excruciating work, that way I won’t feel the need to try.

]]> By: Tozier http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects#comment-710 Tozier Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:52:02 +0000 http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects-i-will-not-be-doing-principally-because-many-search-and-optimization-practitioners-piss-me-off#comment-710 [And the reason it's a prospective thesis project is that I made a pretty good living for nearly a decade developing and applying quantitative and analytical tools for addressing it. So <i>definitely</i> we should talk. :)] [And the reason it's a prospective thesis project is that I made a pretty good living for nearly a decade developing and applying quantitative and analytical tools for addressing it. So definitely we should talk. :)]

]]> By: Tozier http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects#comment-709 Tozier Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:48:01 +0000 http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects-i-will-not-be-doing-principally-because-many-search-and-optimization-practitioners-piss-me-off#comment-709 That sounds like a darned close approximation to my planned thesis work. We should talk. That sounds like a darned close approximation to my planned thesis work. We should talk.

]]> By: mes http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects#comment-708 mes Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:32:40 +0000 http://williamtozier.com/slurry/2006/04/24/four-nice-search-and-optimization-thesis-projects-i-will-not-be-doing-principally-because-many-search-and-optimization-practitioners-piss-me-off#comment-708 I must admit, I've never heard of the knee-biting problem, but it sounds worthy of a thesis :) I like your second topic, it's something that I've been thinking a lot of lately, though I've been putting it in slightly different terms... i.e., what equivalency classes can we construct between problems (or perhaps, what metric topology can we induce upon them), where our equivalency relation / distance metric is based on a problem's performance under a suite of optimization strategies. Kinda an indirect way of discussing the fitness landscape. Hopefully, if a problem space "looks just like" another problem under a number of different types of examination techniques, then there might be something to say about the behavior of future techniques on that entire class of problems. Maybe. But good luck getting to Rue?? (that doesn't sound good) I must admit, I’ve never heard of the knee-biting problem, but it sounds worthy of a thesis :) I like your second topic, it’s something that I’ve been thinking a lot of lately, though I’ve been putting it in slightly different terms… i.e., what equivalency classes can we construct between problems (or perhaps, what metric topology can we induce upon them), where our equivalency relation / distance metric is based on a problem’s performance under a suite of optimization strategies. Kinda an indirect way of discussing the fitness landscape. Hopefully, if a problem space “looks just like” another problem under a number of different types of examination techniques, then there might be something to say about the behavior of future techniques on that entire class of problems. Maybe.

But good luck getting to Rue?? (that doesn’t sound good)

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