Issue 84求拍

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84"In any field of endeavor, it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field."

Making a significant contribution in any field can be difficult. The one who does succeed eventually has to possess certain characteristics in order to accomplish. While it seems reasonable to claim that being strongly influenced by past achievements within a field is the prerequisite to triumph, I hold a different opinion: it may be true that understanding the current achievements from predecessors provides the foundation of producing new contributions, but in many cases being strongly influenced by old thoughts could hinder one’s innovativeness and pioneering spirit.

There is a crucial difference between understanding the past achievements and being strongly influenced by the past achievements. It is a doubted fact that in order to advance further and make a contribution in a certain field, one has to be able to appreciate the findings of his predecessors. British inventor Watt is considered one of the most important characters in the Industrial Revolution because he substantially improved the efficiency of the newly invented steam engine and promoted it into industrial use. Economist Milton Friedman contrasted the opinions from classical economists and Keynesian economists before founding the influential monetarism in Chicago. Obviously Watt and Friedman’s contribution are based on their profound understanding of their predecessors. In most scenarios, imagination without concrete knowledge in any field would not produce any glorious result.

However, understanding is by no means equivalent to being strongly influenced. In my opinion, the ability to think independently and innovatively is certainly one of the few factors that distinguish the achievers and the losers. Mindlessly following the established ideas without giving original thoughts would not contribute to the advancement of any aspect. If Galileo were strongly influenced by doctrines of Aristotle, he would never conduct that famous experiment in the Leaning Tower of Pisa. If Copernicus were strongly influenced by the theory that the earth was the center of the universe he might never invent his revolutionary heliocentric model. Galileo’s contribution to physics is as significant as Copernicus’s contribution to astronomy, yet their mind was not restrained by the existing achievement in the two fields. It is their independent and critical thinking in front of the established achievements that materialize their innovativeness into real contribution.

In conclusion, the argument that it is impossible to make a significant contribution without first being strongly influenced by past achievements within that field lacks concrete support. While I agree that understanding the existing knowledge is important to produce new achievement, being strongly influenced would actually hinder one’s imagination and jeopardize the chance of making a significant contribution in any field.

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