From <Gerard 't Hooft's essay "How to Become a Bad Theoretical Physicist":

• "The difference between a good theorist and a bad one is that good theorists are usually the first to detect the shortcomings of their own theories. ..."
• "... how to become a bad theorist: Compare yourself with Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Paul Dirac, or other celebrities in theoretical physics, and reach a conclusion in favor of yourself."
• "You may consider the option of connecting your work with mystery topics such as telepathy and consciousness. Make outrageous claims of having solved long standing problems. ..."
• "... The impudence to attach your own name to whatever you claim to have discovered is considered improper in science, and in practice it betrays amateurism and incompetence. If a good theoretician refers to an equation to which colleagues have attached his/her own name, he/she uses a different description if available. ..."
• "... take your own immature theory, stop checking it for mistakes, don't listen to colleagues who do spot weaknesses, and start admiring your own infallible intelligence ..."

Contrariwise, 't Hooft's outline of how to become a good theoretical physicist is a roadmap of topics to study (for several years) in order to begin (maybe!) to contribute to human knowledge.

^z - 2019-12-14