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> Really see how incredible all the people around you are. And I mean locally. ...the ordinary people around you scratching themselves out lives that seem to sa

> Really see how incredible all the people around you are. And I mean locally. ...the ordinary people around you scratching themselves out lives that seem to satisfy them. Become one of them. This sentiment has very little actual substance to it. I'm dissatisfied because I want to do something meaningful. I want to leave behind tools that will better my species. I don't want my legacy to be solving a few bugs in obscure proprietary software. Why would I want to emulate people who are satisfied with a meaningless existence? I would much rather rage against the dying of the light. > Most of the work will be unpaid, this is okay. A happy little flow of money is enough, because some money is really damn useful. In a very literal sense, we trade life force for money. Money is life force. Telling people to work for free is doing them a disservice. What exactly are you saying? Rip off the band-aid of ambition and stop trying?

jonnybgood 8y ago
What you find meaningful, others may not. It should in no way imply others are living a meaningless existence.
Tomminn 8y ago
When you try to do something ambitious, generally you spend the vast majority of the time as a stumbling amateur who is totally confused about the right thing to do. If you don't accept this is what you are, then the day that reality spits in your face the truth that you are stumbling amateur who has been totally confused about the right thing to do, you will be crushed. If you accept this is what you are, then the day that reality spits in your face the truth that you are a stumbling amateur who has been totally confused about the right thing to do, you will laugh and make the proper adjustments.
teekert 8y ago
I guess the question is: When will you be truly happy? Will you be happy when you have helped humanity forward in any significant way? Or, will you be happy when you have good relations with the people around you and a generally fun existence? Few people actually help humanity forward in any significant way and thus you are likely setting yourself up for disappointment. I'd even argue that setting more realistic goals makes you more happy and this simple fact increases your odds of helping humanity significantly forward. Think about it, when is your energy level highest? When do you wake up with that sense of wonder and awe and motivation? What are you telling yourself every day, is it truly constructive or just demotivating?
- enraged_camel 8y ago
  >>When will you be truly happy? Will you be happy when you have helped humanity forward in any significant way? Or, will you be happy when you have good relations with the people around you and a generally fun existence? I will be happy when I can choose to work on what I want to work on, rather than what society tells me I need to work on in order to be able to continue feeding and sheltering myself. In a sense, financial independence is what I seek, because only financial independence will allow me to put 100% of my energy into improving my community via endeavors that otherwise would not pay a dime.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    And what if you can't manage to get financial independence, or ever be able to put "100% of my energy into improving my community via endeavors that otherwise would not pay a dime" ever, like 95%+ of humanity. What then? You'd spend all your life miserable because of it? You won't divert the "self-improvement schemes/self-pity" effort towards whatever percentage you are left with for improving your community (even if it's like 20%)?
    - TeMPOraL 8y ago
      > You'd spend all your life miserable because of it? Isn't this whole thing really about managing your own emotions? I'm reminded of Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living", and the underlying theme that whatever you want to do, worrying more than necessary to inform your actions is definitely not helping your chances of success.
- wetpaws 8y ago
  This assumes that the happiness is the goal of existence. While true for some people, it does not mean that is a universal truth for everybody.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    It does, since happiness is by definition the goal. What makes you happy can change (it could even be getting executed if it helps a great cause), but nobody is content with being miserable.
coldtea 8y ago
>This sentiment has very little actual substance to it. I'm dissatisfied because I want to do something meaningful. I want to leave behind tools that will better my species. That's something 1 in 10000 or even less do. Why it would be you (or me for that matter)? >What exactly are you saying? Rip off the band-aid of ambition and stop trying? If you're not getting results, and spend year after year on "self improvement" skills to get to be Musk or whatever, why not? Enjoy life, nobody signed any contract with the universe that they'll be the "inventor" and "great artist" and so on. What are you saying, the rest several billions that will not "leave behind tools that will better their species" are useless waste of potential, or just normal people living their lives, and it's the idea of this unlimited potential that is a dangerous and damaging americanism peddled by snake-oil self-help gurus? (Heck, if the regular life of the species is meaningless in itself, then inventing tools to improve it, wont add meaning to it, just some conveniences).
- nothrabannosir 8y ago
  >> This sentiment has very little actual substance to it. I'm dissatisfied because I want to do something meaningful. I want to leave behind tools that will better my species. > That's something 1 in 10000 or even less do. Why it would be you (or me for that matter)? One: because you think it will be you. 1 in N people do something meaningful. 1 in M people who think they will do something meaningful, end up doing so. M < N. Anecdotal, of course, but so is everyone else here, so I'm not going to bother with proof. If you want to see what I mean, take a cue from what is presented as such sage advice upstream: look around you. Not many people are ambitious on a grand scale. Two: out of the people who did something meaningful, few of them were helped by a "can't do" attitude. Even if not grounded in reality at all, you still need to have amibition, for that rare case where you do end up being the 1 in a million that does something meaningful. Personally, I'm not a fan of this nihilist attitude so pervasive in cynical ex-geniuses. I encounter it a lot among formerly precocious children in compsci. It's negative, demotivating, and I regret ever taking this seriously. So let me go on record to anyone who feels OP was talking you: the mere act of yearning to have a lasting effect on the world and on humanity makes you special. Forget the naysayers and the cynics. Leave the bitter undisciplined geniuses to their sour grapes. Go into the world and do what you can. We need all the help we can get!

jonnybgood 8y ago

What you find meaningful, others may not. It should in no way imply others are living a meaningless existence.

Tomminn 8y ago

When you try to do something ambitious, generally you spend the vast majority of the time as a stumbling amateur who is totally confused about the right thing to do. If you don't accept this is what you are, then the day that reality spits in your face the truth that you are stumbling amateur who has been totally confused about the right thing to do, you will be crushed. If you accept this is what you are, then the day that reality spits in your face the truth that you are a stumbling amateur who has been totally confused about the right thing to do, you will laugh and make the proper adjustments.

teekert 8y ago

I guess the question is: When will you be truly happy? Will you be happy when you have helped humanity forward in any significant way? Or, will you be happy when you have good relations with the people around you and a generally fun existence? Few people actually help humanity forward in any significant way and thus you are likely setting yourself up for disappointment. I'd even argue that setting more realistic goals makes you more happy and this simple fact increases your odds of helping humanity significantly forward. Think about it, when is your energy level highest? When do you wake up with that sense of wonder and awe and motivation? What are you telling yourself every day, is it truly constructive or just demotivating?

enraged_camel 8y ago
>>When will you be truly happy? Will you be happy when you have helped humanity forward in any significant way? Or, will you be happy when you have good relations with the people around you and a generally fun existence? I will be happy when I can choose to work on what I want to work on, rather than what society tells me I need to work on in order to be able to continue feeding and sheltering myself. In a sense, financial independence is what I seek, because only financial independence will allow me to put 100% of my energy into improving my community via endeavors that otherwise would not pay a dime.
- coldtea 8y ago
  And what if you can't manage to get financial independence, or ever be able to put "100% of my energy into improving my community via endeavors that otherwise would not pay a dime" ever, like 95%+ of humanity. What then? You'd spend all your life miserable because of it? You won't divert the "self-improvement schemes/self-pity" effort towards whatever percentage you are left with for improving your community (even if it's like 20%)?
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    > You'd spend all your life miserable because of it? Isn't this whole thing really about managing your own emotions? I'm reminded of Carnegie's "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living", and the underlying theme that whatever you want to do, worrying more than necessary to inform your actions is definitely not helping your chances of success.
wetpaws 8y ago
This assumes that the happiness is the goal of existence. While true for some people, it does not mean that is a universal truth for everybody.
- coldtea 8y ago
  It does, since happiness is by definition the goal. What makes you happy can change (it could even be getting executed if it helps a great cause), but nobody is content with being miserable.

coldtea 8y ago

>This sentiment has very little actual substance to it. I'm dissatisfied because I want to do something meaningful. I want to leave behind tools that will better my species. That's something 1 in 10000 or even less do. Why it would be you (or me for that matter)? >What exactly are you saying? Rip off the band-aid of ambition and stop trying? If you're not getting results, and spend year after year on "self improvement" skills to get to be Musk or whatever, why not? Enjoy life, nobody signed any contract with the universe that they'll be the "inventor" and "great artist" and so on. What are you saying, the rest several billions that will not "leave behind tools that will better their species" are useless waste of potential, or just normal people living their lives, and it's the idea of this unlimited potential that is a dangerous and damaging americanism peddled by snake-oil self-help gurus? (Heck, if the regular life of the species is meaningless in itself, then inventing tools to improve it, wont add meaning to it, just some conveniences).

nothrabannosir 8y ago
>> This sentiment has very little actual substance to it. I'm dissatisfied because I want to do something meaningful. I want to leave behind tools that will better my species. > That's something 1 in 10000 or even less do. Why it would be you (or me for that matter)? One: because you think it will be you. 1 in N people do something meaningful. 1 in M people who think they will do something meaningful, end up doing so. M < N. Anecdotal, of course, but so is everyone else here, so I'm not going to bother with proof. If you want to see what I mean, take a cue from what is presented as such sage advice upstream: look around you. Not many people are ambitious on a grand scale. Two: out of the people who did something meaningful, few of them were helped by a "can't do" attitude. Even if not grounded in reality at all, you still need to have amibition, for that rare case where you do end up being the 1 in a million that does something meaningful. Personally, I'm not a fan of this nihilist attitude so pervasive in cynical ex-geniuses. I encounter it a lot among formerly precocious children in compsci. It's negative, demotivating, and I regret ever taking this seriously. So let me go on record to anyone who feels OP was talking you: the mere act of yearning to have a lasting effect on the world and on humanity makes you special. Forget the naysayers and the cynics. Leave the bitter undisciplined geniuses to their sour grapes. Go into the world and do what you can. We need all the help we can get!