Renaissance Man of Today!
Lessons from Nathan Myhrvold
You might have noticed that every third article on PolyPaths is a feature on a prolific polypath. The simple reason for that is that seeing is believing i.e. examples are empowering! We all have some path in life that we chose because we looked up to someone on that path. Similarly, I believe that learning about different polypaths really helps us fathom what’s possible! I wish I had known more polypathic role models when I was younger, and I truly hope this helps someone like my younger self, struggling to find their identity.
So far we deep dived into the polypathic traits of Leonardo Da Vinci and Gargi Vachaknavi, both historical legends. You might be curious about the modern-day polypaths we can relate to more easily and learn from in today's world! Worry not, we will be featuring plenty of those moving forward. Let’s start with the renaissance man of our century – Nathan Myhrvold. I am sure you will be amazed at the sheer volume of his life paths, and his excellence on each of them so let’s dive into this fascinating feature –
Poly Many Paths
On his academic/tech path, Nathan is a PhD in mathematical physics and was a postdoc in theoretical physics (with none other than Stephen Hawking). Later he founded a company which was acquired by Microsoft. He was then charged to lead the advanced technology division of Microsoft and eventually became its first CTO. He also founded Microsoft Research, a research lab which has produced top notch research over the years (I myself had the fortune of interning there multiple times). Nathan now heads Intellectual Ventures where he works with inventors to patent and develop a huge array of innovations!
On his culinary path, Nathan has been a passionate cook since childhood. When he was nine, he cooked the entire Thanksgiving meal all by himself! 🤯 While he was at Microsoft, he liked to work nights with a top Seattle chef and later, he obtained a culinary degree from France. In fact, he took special permission from Bill Gates to take a leave of absence from Microsoft to complete his degree! In 2007, he founded a culinary research laboratory that has published several award-winning cookbooks (Modernist cuisine).
On his paleontology path, he has co-authored multiple research papers on dinosaurs analyzing the tails of the taller species and positing theories of their mating behavior. His research has been instrumental in finding more T.Rex specimens than any other research lab. He has a few other paths which include photography, climate (geo engineering), nuclear energy, epidemiology, astrophysics and he has at least authored a book or an academic paper on each if not founded a company around it!
“I guess the choice I made is to resist conforming, and not let my wide ranging interests get pounded out of me. Doing that requires a certain amount of defiance of social norms.” – Nathan [interview from Polymath]Prolific Excellence
With this volume of paths, Nathan’s extreme curiosity is evident. He has also been referred to as the most curious human alive. His curiosity fuels his fast-paced learning on any path, and he doesn’t stop at just understanding existing knowledge. He pushes the boundaries on that path, and creates new knowledge. For example, he was curious about the application of scientific techniques to cooking and tried to find books on the topic, but no systematic body of knowledge existed and so he took it upon himself to write a bunch of books. In his culinary exploration, he also found new techniques of grilling certain ingredients making him the world barbecue champion!
The scientific method is at the core of everything he does. He does not take anyone’s word for how something “should” work but really tests and experiments everything. Another great example is when he got interested in taking a photograph of a snowflake, which turned out to be a really hard problem. Thinking about it from first principles, he built a unique machine with a thin electromagnetic brush, a sapphire slide and light emitting diodes, eventually taking the highest resolution pictures of snowflakes known to mankind. Another illustration of how science can enable what can only be described as an exquisite piece of art! ❣️
“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing to the best of your abilities” – NathanHis depth on each path is beyond impressive. It’s as though there are multiple independent experts and they somehow happen to reside in one person. But of course, these experts are a direct result of his unified polypathic approach to life! In spite of this unprecedented greatness, Nathan comes across as highly approachable with his childlike enthusiasm and an endearing sense of humor. Right after he completed processing the epic photos of snowflakes, he joked “I don’t know how good this is, but we definitely have our Christmas card for this year!” 😀
Unexpected Connections
In one of his interviews, Nathan talks about “idea arbitrage” being a foundational concept at his innovation company. Essentially, it means taking a well-known idea from one field and applying it to a completely different field, thus “innovating” to solve a problem. I feel that Nathan’s life itself is an arbitrage of ideas where he applies science to photography and cooking, paleontology to geo engineering, etc. to solve problems that only he can! For example, he used his research on the growth rate of dinosaurs to better understand malnourishment in kids and in the process helping millions of underprivileged kids.
Nathan mentions he has friends who are chefs, technologists, photographers and most of them cannot figure out why he spends time on “other things”! It’s quite amusing to imagine that there are chefs in France who feel ‘why does Nathan spend big chunks of his time creating all these new technologies!’; there are techies in Seattle who feel ‘why does Nathan have this weird calling to understand the tails of dinosaurs’; and there are paleontologists in universities who feel ‘why does Nathan need to photograph pizzas from different angles and write a book about it!’ 😀
I am guessing the answer is along these lines – All of these paths are core to who Nathan is and something inside of him drives him to pursue, innovate and excel in all of them. His natural curiosity and paths created a gamut of fascinating problems that he is uniquely poised to solve. The lesson is loud and clear for all of us polypaths – Celebrate all your paths, they make you who you are! Embrace your callings, and let your curiosity guide you to growth and excellence! They will lead you to avenues that you are uniquely positioned to innovate and contribute to!
Thank you Nathan for being the modern-day inspiration that you are, we have a lot to learn from you! 🙏