Alex Zhang thinks many processes behind progress in the field have been somewhat boring, although their outcomes are not necessarily boring.

“of being a phd student genuinely is that there's so many big bets to take most of them will probably yield nothing but it's a really really exciting time to be in research especially because i think most progress in the field has been a little bit boring like i'm not saying the the outcome is boring but the process of of doing these things tends to be quite boring um and so there is kind of this question of like you know what”