7 ms·

> I have yet experienced more in these four years than most people do in all of their lives. Lol, hearing that from a 22 year old.

by dqpb 8y ago

vinceguidry 8y ago
I think anybody that would say this is very likely completely right about it, despite their age.
- emilfihlman 8y ago
  I'd make the opposite claim.
- GuiA 8y ago
  What does it even mean, to have experienced “more” than anyone else? How do you compare raising a child to starting a company to performing as a top level athlete to losing a parent to ... Mathematically minded nerds tend to forget that not everything in life can be turned into set theory :)
  - moron4hire 8y ago
    As a mathematically minded something, I agree with your first sentence, mostly disagree with your last one. There are a lot of nerds who think they are good at math when they are not.
- pjc50 8y ago
  There's a lot of potential life experience out there, not all of it good. And a lot of people go through extraordinary hardships that they didn't choose. A great example of someone who's experienced both the difficulties of running a business and the difficulties of running for your life is Intel chairman Andy Grove: " He was born András Gróf into a not religious Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, which was ruled by a military dictator whose government persecuted Jews. That Gróf was not a Jewish surname may have helped his family avoid some of the worst of the persecution. As a small child, Grove had scarlet fever, which not only nearly killed him but also rendered him partly deaf. With the advent of World War II and Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Hungary abandoned its official neutrality and joined the Germans. In 1944, when the war went badly for Germany, the Nazis overthrew the Hungarian government, fearing that the Hungarians were about to make peace with the Soviets. The rounding up of Jews for death camps and slave labor soon began. Grove's father was forced to serve in the German army at the Eastern Front, where he endured appalling tortures for the amusement of German soldiers. Grove and his mother hid under false names with a Christian family; almost every day was a close call, as soldiers snatched Jews off the streets and out of their homes. Then the Soviets fought their way into Budapest, bringing with them more persecution (and the rape of Grove's mother). Grove wanted to be a journalist, but he discovered that journalistic success depended on the whims of political correctness, and he decided to enter a field where subjectivity would not affect judgments about his work; he chose to study chemistry. In 1956 Hungarians tried to replace their Communist government with a democracy, and the Soviet Union in vaded their nation. There was fighting in Budapest's streets as young people tried to repel soldiers and tanks with small weapons and bottles filled with gasoline. Soviet troops began snatching young men and imprisoning, torturing, or killing them. Grove and his best friend, Janos Lanyi, fled to Austria, dodging Soviet troops, crawling in mud, afraid all the way. He had lived 20 years under murderous oppression, surviving by always remaining alert to the possibility that even a simple attempt to purchase a loaf of bread could cause him to disappear along with many other young Hungarians." -- https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/F-L/Grove-Andy-1936.html https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/F-L/Grove-And...
  - lowpro 8y ago
    I've never heard this story, thank you for sharing. As hard as I (and many others in the West may try), I wonder if it's possible to bring as much determination to my field as someone from such harsh circumstance can. What an interesting person.
- refurb 8y ago
  That would only be true if starting a business was the only thing that mattered in life. However, we know that's not true.
porphyrogene 8y ago
It is difficult to take someone seriously when they introduce themselves by saying something like that. Experiencing life is not a competition, nor is it a valid bragging point. I guess it is good to know that there are some painfully obvious lessons that are not learned by building a company.
- saiya-jin 8y ago
  Indeed, whenever I hear something along those lines, its obvious that I talk to young immature person, who experienced quite a bit in a very narrow part of life, and not much more. Arrogance never helped anybody, did it. Truly experienced people who properly seen-it-all get a proper dose of humility about themselves, the world and the others. You can really feel it from them. Unlike this kiddo.
  - porphyrogene 8y ago
    I can relate to him. I used to think that adulthood was a permanent state, that I would feel the same age at 30 as I did at 20. That is not the case, I feel exactly the age that I am and I learned just as much in my last ten years as I did in the ten years prior.
- wowzap 8y ago
  It's difficult to take someone seriously when they emphasize everything with the word fuck.
  - pc86 8y ago
    How else will we know how cool and hip they are?
- siruncledrew 8y ago
  People with the mindset of "I'm in my 20s, I know all about the struggles of life" are usually primed for a big kick in the pants by life. I'm saying this as someone in their mid-20s. When I was 22, I used to think I knew what adulthood was like after having to work a 9-5 job and pay rent and buy groceries. Hah, was I wrong. There's such a level of naivete based on using a 2-3 year sample size of living independently to project what the next 40+ years (who actually knows how long) of life will be like. Life always finds a way to throw something new at you, and as people age the accumulation of life experience also expands. There really is no replacement for experience, and it's impossible to say "I know what everything will be like ahead of me" without actually having lived it.
tw1010 8y ago
A lot of old people have been comfortable their entire adult lives.
- wavefunction 8y ago
  Then it follows that even more young people than that have been comfortable their whole lives.
- comboy 8y ago
  I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you are young. Just on of the points would be how different the world looked like 60 years ago.
- jerf 8y ago
  Have you asked them? You might be surprised. Everyone's got problems.
- Insanity 8y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean by 'comfortable'. But let's assume you mean 'figured out life'. I used to think that people knew what they were doing as they were getting older. I'm still 'young', my wife and I are late 20s, early 30s. And I have given up the idea on 'figuring it out'.
  - beckler 8y ago
    This. Right here. Currently in my late 20's. I have nothing figured out, and I stopped trying to figure things out a while ago.
whatshisface 8y ago
If you're inclined to be generous, that could be read as an implicit "experienced more [small business related events] in these four years..."
- jmilloy 8y ago
  In fact, the post seems to have been edited to this effect by now.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  That doesn't make the statement not nonsense, just nonsense for different reasons.
i_cant_speel 8y ago
That put a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the article.
mbesto 8y ago
This is exactly the resulting effect of VCs + tech media's influence on young and impressionable tech entrepreneurs.
dalbasal 8y ago
In fairness, I feel like I had more formative experiences between 16-20 than I have since (35). Young adulthood tends to be eventful and formative in a way people's 30s usually aren't. Throw in entrepreneurship... It's not that far fetched.
- the_clarence 8y ago
  Can’t agree more. I experience and changed a lot when I was in my early 20s. Now life moves slowly.
  - jbigelow76 8y ago
    I can't make assumptions as to whether you or the gp have kids, but I didn't have my first until 37 and the second last year at 41. For me personally, having kids was the single most trans formative experience of my life with regards to how I have to examine my life and the world around me. Nothing before that came anywhere close, perhaps if I had lost a parent/sibling when I was younger or had enlisted after 9/11 I could say something else was in the same league, but as it stands, kids in my late 30s is it for me :)
    - the_clarence 8y ago
      No kids, but not planning to have any. I think I’ll lead a better life if I have time and money on my hands.
- sfifs 8y ago
  Had kids yet? :-)
  - dalbasal 8y ago
    yep, one and a half ;) Look... I you can't take this stuff entirely literally. Life experience isn't quantifiable. We're talking about impressions. 2 months of summer when I was 17 was packed. Romances. Feuds. New ideas, disillusionment, entirely new ways of thinking.
astura 8y ago
It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
artursapek 8y ago
Somebody needs to give this guy a fridge magnet about humility to add to his collection
brianmcc 8y ago
Indeed :-) I just wrote up some reflections of hitting 21 years in my career, feel free to take a read -> https://mcconnellsoftware.github.io/success-criteria-21-years-in/ https://mcconnellsoftware.github.io/success-criteria-21-year...
gowld 8y ago
It calls to mind Bo Burnhan, poet laureate of this YouTube generation: "We all deserve love, it's the very best part of being alive And I would know I just turned 25" https://genius.com/Bo-burnham-lower-your-expectations-if-you-want-love-lyrics https://genius.com/Bo-burnham-lower-your-expectations-if-you...
dqpb 8y ago
Moreover: "The rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until age 25 or so" https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=3051 https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?Con...

> I have yet experienced more in these four years than most people do in all of their lives. Lol, hearing that from a 22 year old.

by dqpb 8y ago

> I have yet experienced more in these four years than most people do in all of their lives. Lol, hearing that from a 22 year old.

vinceguidry 8y ago

I think anybody that would say this is very likely completely right about it, despite their age.

emilfihlman 8y ago
I'd make the opposite claim.
GuiA 8y ago
What does it even mean, to have experienced “more” than anyone else? How do you compare raising a child to starting a company to performing as a top level athlete to losing a parent to ... Mathematically minded nerds tend to forget that not everything in life can be turned into set theory :)
- moron4hire 8y ago
  As a mathematically minded something, I agree with your first sentence, mostly disagree with your last one. There are a lot of nerds who think they are good at math when they are not.
pjc50 8y ago
There's a lot of potential life experience out there, not all of it good. And a lot of people go through extraordinary hardships that they didn't choose. A great example of someone who's experienced both the difficulties of running a business and the difficulties of running for your life is Intel chairman Andy Grove: " He was born András Gróf into a not religious Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, which was ruled by a military dictator whose government persecuted Jews. That Gróf was not a Jewish surname may have helped his family avoid some of the worst of the persecution. As a small child, Grove had scarlet fever, which not only nearly killed him but also rendered him partly deaf. With the advent of World War II and Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Hungary abandoned its official neutrality and joined the Germans. In 1944, when the war went badly for Germany, the Nazis overthrew the Hungarian government, fearing that the Hungarians were about to make peace with the Soviets. The rounding up of Jews for death camps and slave labor soon began. Grove's father was forced to serve in the German army at the Eastern Front, where he endured appalling tortures for the amusement of German soldiers. Grove and his mother hid under false names with a Christian family; almost every day was a close call, as soldiers snatched Jews off the streets and out of their homes. Then the Soviets fought their way into Budapest, bringing with them more persecution (and the rape of Grove's mother). Grove wanted to be a journalist, but he discovered that journalistic success depended on the whims of political correctness, and he decided to enter a field where subjectivity would not affect judgments about his work; he chose to study chemistry. In 1956 Hungarians tried to replace their Communist government with a democracy, and the Soviet Union in vaded their nation. There was fighting in Budapest's streets as young people tried to repel soldiers and tanks with small weapons and bottles filled with gasoline. Soviet troops began snatching young men and imprisoning, torturing, or killing them. Grove and his best friend, Janos Lanyi, fled to Austria, dodging Soviet troops, crawling in mud, afraid all the way. He had lived 20 years under murderous oppression, surviving by always remaining alert to the possibility that even a simple attempt to purchase a loaf of bread could cause him to disappear along with many other young Hungarians." -- https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/F-L/Grove-Andy-1936.html https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/F-L/Grove-And...
- lowpro 8y ago
  I've never heard this story, thank you for sharing. As hard as I (and many others in the West may try), I wonder if it's possible to bring as much determination to my field as someone from such harsh circumstance can. What an interesting person.
refurb 8y ago
That would only be true if starting a business was the only thing that mattered in life. However, we know that's not true.

porphyrogene 8y ago

It is difficult to take someone seriously when they introduce themselves by saying something like that. Experiencing life is not a competition, nor is it a valid bragging point. I guess it is good to know that there are some painfully obvious lessons that are not learned by building a company.

saiya-jin 8y ago
Indeed, whenever I hear something along those lines, its obvious that I talk to young immature person, who experienced quite a bit in a very narrow part of life, and not much more. Arrogance never helped anybody, did it. Truly experienced people who properly seen-it-all get a proper dose of humility about themselves, the world and the others. You can really feel it from them. Unlike this kiddo.
- porphyrogene 8y ago
  I can relate to him. I used to think that adulthood was a permanent state, that I would feel the same age at 30 as I did at 20. That is not the case, I feel exactly the age that I am and I learned just as much in my last ten years as I did in the ten years prior.
wowzap 8y ago
It's difficult to take someone seriously when they emphasize everything with the word fuck.
- pc86 8y ago
  How else will we know how cool and hip they are?
siruncledrew 8y ago
People with the mindset of "I'm in my 20s, I know all about the struggles of life" are usually primed for a big kick in the pants by life. I'm saying this as someone in their mid-20s. When I was 22, I used to think I knew what adulthood was like after having to work a 9-5 job and pay rent and buy groceries. Hah, was I wrong. There's such a level of naivete based on using a 2-3 year sample size of living independently to project what the next 40+ years (who actually knows how long) of life will be like. Life always finds a way to throw something new at you, and as people age the accumulation of life experience also expands. There really is no replacement for experience, and it's impossible to say "I know what everything will be like ahead of me" without actually having lived it.

tw1010 8y ago

A lot of old people have been comfortable their entire adult lives.

wavefunction 8y ago
Then it follows that even more young people than that have been comfortable their whole lives.
comboy 8y ago
I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you are young. Just on of the points would be how different the world looked like 60 years ago.
jerf 8y ago
Have you asked them? You might be surprised. Everyone's got problems.
Insanity 8y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by 'comfortable'. But let's assume you mean 'figured out life'. I used to think that people knew what they were doing as they were getting older. I'm still 'young', my wife and I are late 20s, early 30s. And I have given up the idea on 'figuring it out'.
- beckler 8y ago
  This. Right here. Currently in my late 20's. I have nothing figured out, and I stopped trying to figure things out a while ago.

whatshisface 8y ago

If you're inclined to be generous, that could be read as an implicit "experienced more [small business related events] in these four years..."

jmilloy 8y ago
In fact, the post seems to have been edited to this effect by now.
TeMPOraL 8y ago
That doesn't make the statement not nonsense, just nonsense for different reasons.

i_cant_speel 8y ago

That put a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the article.

mbesto 8y ago

This is exactly the resulting effect of VCs + tech media's influence on young and impressionable tech entrepreneurs.

dalbasal 8y ago

In fairness, I feel like I had more formative experiences between 16-20 than I have since (35). Young adulthood tends to be eventful and formative in a way people's 30s usually aren't. Throw in entrepreneurship... It's not that far fetched.

the_clarence 8y ago
Can’t agree more. I experience and changed a lot when I was in my early 20s. Now life moves slowly.
- jbigelow76 8y ago
  I can't make assumptions as to whether you or the gp have kids, but I didn't have my first until 37 and the second last year at 41. For me personally, having kids was the single most trans formative experience of my life with regards to how I have to examine my life and the world around me. Nothing before that came anywhere close, perhaps if I had lost a parent/sibling when I was younger or had enlisted after 9/11 I could say something else was in the same league, but as it stands, kids in my late 30s is it for me :)
  - the_clarence 8y ago
    No kids, but not planning to have any. I think I’ll lead a better life if I have time and money on my hands.
sfifs 8y ago
Had kids yet? :-)
- dalbasal 8y ago
  yep, one and a half ;) Look... I you can't take this stuff entirely literally. Life experience isn't quantifiable. We're talking about impressions. 2 months of summer when I was 17 was packed. Romances. Feuds. New ideas, disillusionment, entirely new ways of thinking.

astura 8y ago

It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

artursapek 8y ago

Somebody needs to give this guy a fridge magnet about humility to add to his collection

brianmcc 8y ago

Indeed :-) I just wrote up some reflections of hitting 21 years in my career, feel free to take a read -> https://mcconnellsoftware.github.io/success-criteria-21-years-in/ https://mcconnellsoftware.github.io/success-criteria-21-year...

gowld 8y ago

It calls to mind Bo Burnhan, poet laureate of this YouTube generation: "We all deserve love, it's the very best part of being alive And I would know I just turned 25" https://genius.com/Bo-burnham-lower-your-expectations-if-you-want-love-lyrics https://genius.com/Bo-burnham-lower-your-expectations-if-you...

dqpb 8y ago

Moreover: "The rational part of a teen’s brain isn’t fully developed and won’t be until age 25 or so" https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=3051 https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?Con...