On wasted time and effort: We can learn from Nvidia to focus on what really matters
The following is my comment on the video "NVIDIA'S HUGE AI Breakthroughs Just Changed Everything!" (channel "Ticker Symbol: YOU") The section 02:24 until 03:25 of the video is what I'd like to comment on with the following text. I recommend you first take a look at that section of the video to better understand what I'm talking about below.
What matters most on images is not primarily that only 30% of the overall data of your file is lost, but what matters most is that for the end-user e.g. only 10% less artifacts are visible in the image when he looks at it. If still 90% of the artifacts can be seen even if the file is losing 50% of its size, then why not do it and reduce the filesize by 50% instead of just by 30%?
Or maybe I'm understanding something wrong here, because what I just described here seems somehow just too good to be true and to me sounds somewhat like going into the direction of a perpetual motion machine, in the sense of that you get more out than you put in. Did I commit a mistake in my thinking process here?
It seems to me that to decode something and to move into the shape that is most simple, yet where it's still visible for the observer what is meant, i think that's a form of art. Think of the drawing-game "Pictionary". And I think that with art, that is, with artistic or unconventional or out-of-the-box solutions to problems, a lot of unnecessary hard work in our lives could be eliminated.
Do we really need a perfect image of a bear to communicate the concept of a bear to the reader of a book? Or can we not just use a simple bear 🐻 emoji instead? Is the concept of a bear in this way not communicated just as good for some purposes or in some cases?
Proverbs 17:24: "Wisdom is before him that hath understanding; but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth." (KJV)
Proverbs 17:24: "Wisdom is directly in front of an understanding person, but the eyes of a fool [are looking around] all over the world." (GWN)
Ecclesiastes 10:15: "The trouble that the fool takes wearies him; yet he does not even find his way into the city." (Direct Translation to English from the German Bible called Schlachter 2000)
The one that has understanding sees an easy solution to his problem, yet the fool looks and looks and looks for a solution to his problem and doesn't find it. Maybe he didn't consider some aspect of his problem or maybe he didn't take the time to look at the bigger picture of the problem and therefore doesn't realize where he should set his priorities to do 20% of the work that results in 80% of the quality needed to solve the problem and thus he spends a huge amount of time to do many things that in the end don't really matter to solve the problem at hand in an efficient way.
Therefore, in line with what Abraham Lincoln said in the following quote of his, I think whenever we tackle a big project, it's useful and helpful if we first take a look at the big picture, so that we can set our priorities wisely regarding what quality is needed in which aspect of the project, so as to avoid wasting unnecessary time and effort with things that don't matter much or don't even matter at all:
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln
In closing, I think it's important to - as my father told me multiple times - "think while working" and what I mean by that in this context is that whenever we do soemthing, we should keep in the back of our minds what the objective or the goal is of what we're doing, so that we can realize where we lose ourselves in the details, so that we can come back to doing what is important and in this way not waste precious time of ours.
(Important note on Nvidia: You might also find useful information concerning Nvidia or "Invidia" here on a page of theopenscroll.blogspot.com; on that website it says: "The NVIDIA brand identity is shocking - ancient Roman Deity Invidia"; however please note the wikipedia-article on invidia linked to from that webpage contains at least one indecent image)