Ryan Peterman

I mean, most progress, we have these conferences, theory conferences,

Stock and Forks, and then we have all sorts of satellite conferences and there are hundreds of papers in them.

Satellite, I mean, focused on the concrete area and learning theory, crypto, online algorithms.

There are many, many, there are thousands of researchers working in this, I don't know, maybe.

And they are producing many papers a year.

And most papers, and most of my papers, we make a little progress in understanding something.

Usually it's not a big problem.

We discover a variant of a technique or we can strengthen a bound on something.

And I find this essential.

I think this is true in science in general.

And bigger understandings come more rarely.

And they suddenly, you know, they send this shockwave to everybody, learn them, and...

and uses them.

But of course, those bigger understandings, it doesn't have to be a resolution of 50 years of paper.

It can be something that, you know, when Barrington discovered his algorithm for counting that I mentioned, he was trying to actually prove that it's impossible.

And it was not like somebody asked this question.

The answer was obvious.

It's impossible, right?

So when you have an insight of this type, it's amazing.

So whenever you realize something really new for you and for the community, it's a phenomenal result.