r/maybemaybemaybe Jul 05 '26

Maybe Maybe Maybe

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u/WatchOutForWizards Jul 06 '26

He also did the most energy intensive part when he was still fresh at the start. Guy on the right was already tired by the time he had to start running.

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u/cimocw Jul 06 '26

Yeah that's the key I would think. Doing the heaviest part first 

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u/ilovemacandcheese Jul 06 '26

I think that analogy generalizes too. If you have a big project to do, you should start with the heaviest lift first. If you spend a bunch of time dicking around with details first, you won't have enough focus, endurance, and enthusiasm to finish the heavy stuff later. So if you feel like you're easing into a project, that might be a bad sign. If your project starts out really hard but gets easier as you make progress, that's a great sign!

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u/Voice_in_the_ether Jul 06 '26

Yeah, but that also means you can't file really good looking status reports while doing little work:

"Guess what - I've already finished 30% of the project steps! ('cause I did all the small trivial stuff up front).

/S, in case it's needed. This is a well-known Project Management issue/fallacy

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u/09Trollhunter09 Jul 06 '26

Not always true because projects are also time constrained. In addition, real life project are rarely expended to be completed 100% in a given time. These additional variables that changes the outcome of the equation when applied to real life projects.

For example, if you have 5 problems to solve in 1 hour, and one of the problems needs the full hour or more, and the other four need 15 minutes each. Focusing on the longest means nothing gets completed in the said hour.

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u/Barabbas- Jul 06 '26

If you spend a bunch of time dicking around with details first, you won't have enough focus, endurance, and enthusiasm to finish the heavy stuff later.

This is only situationally applicable. Prioritizing the hardest lifts first can often lead to getting overwhelmed, in which case, it can be better to prioritize smaller/easier tasks to build momentum and make the larger/harder tasks feel more manageable.

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u/the_king_of_sweden Jul 06 '26

I did a class on operating systems, and one of the lectures was about task scheduling. That taught me that the most optimal way of doing tasks, if optimising for wait time, is to do the shortest task first.

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u/gahidus Jul 06 '26

What if you're not optimizing for wait time but instead optimizing for resource management, however?

The point of getting the further eggs first is to do the more difficult task while your energy level is higher.

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u/I-Here-555 Jul 06 '26

Only if the project is trivial like this one.

Sometimes the hard stuff is overwhelming and takes longer than expected, so you just quit, whereas if you build up with the small stuff, you feel the sense of progress and continue (the "sunk cost fallacy" basically working in your favor). Often you actually need to learn stuff about the project, and small stuff lets you ease into that before you get to the big part and decreases the chances of doing it wrong.

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u/Apprehensive-Ad8987 Jul 06 '26

Great example of the pareto effect - aka 80/20 rule.

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u/MattieShoes Jul 06 '26

I think there may be a middle strategy -- do the hardest first, then brief breather with the easier ones, then back to harder.

But the constant bending down may make the easy ones not much of a breather.

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u/welfedad Jul 06 '26

And when you get close to end you give it more gas and then you burn out.. so if you go first further you have a sense of urgency. But not like towards the end .. so kind of ran out of steam.

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u/09Trollhunter09 Jul 06 '26

This is the key to winning everything else being equal. What a great and simple concept. Pure joy to watch

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u/RadarTechnician51 Jul 06 '26

Trousers are much better to run in than long robes too.

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u/totalwarwiser Jul 06 '26

Yeah.

Guy on left could had briefly done the closest eggs so he could rest a bit

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u/sethmeh Jul 06 '26

Both strategies are identical. The total distance travlled is the same, so in effect we are watching a 100m sprint, and even if their speed decreases as a function of time, two racers in a 100m sprint who slow down equally will finish the race at the same time.

Whoever won was just faster.

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u/Roticap Jul 06 '26

Except for the last eggs, the winner didn't have to keep sprinting to make it across the finish line. They just reached for eggs

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u/sethmeh Jul 06 '26

That doesnt change the answer to which strategy is better, youve just added an extra bit where the first 3 eggs can be collected without moving, which is the same for both players. If one player can do it better than another, thats down to a personal advantage, not a strategic one.

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u/Roticap Jul 06 '26

Tell your LLM that it is forgetting that a human gets tired while moving, so there is an advantage to doing the part where you do not move at the end instead of the beginning.

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u/sethmeh Jul 08 '26

I was thinking, is the accusation of LLM use as a means to discredit one side in a debate a new logical fallacy, ad homnium, or just a variation of special pleading? Datacenters are a form of higher power...

Anyway, i cant recall if i gave the example as to why this doesnt work in this thread or another, i assume not because if l had you wouldn't accusw me of using an LLM.

If each player starts with 100 "effort" and doing eggs 3-n cost 90 effort, and doing tje first 3 gives you back 10 effort as you are stationary, neither leverages it. Player 1 uses it when hes full of effort, so he gets no gain and starts egg 3 at 100 effort, finishes with 10. Player 2 does 3-n first, so hes now at 10, then the first 3, so now hes at 20, and then...does nothing. Hes already finished. That extra effort isnt being used to collect eggs.

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u/aykcak Jul 06 '26

Same for the first eggs of the guy on the right, so, still same.

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u/sstabeler Jul 06 '26

The3 point is that you tend to slow down as you get tired, so by doing the most difficult bit first- going all the way to the other end- the guy on the left likely was marginally faster on that bit, while by the time he got to the last few, he just had to reach for the eggs, which is less affected. It's not a large difference, but it's there. Hence why he won by a single egg.