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I kind of feel like the author is referring to Zuckerberg's famous comment about young people being smarter. I don't remember the exact quote, but it was suitab

I kind of feel like the author is referring to Zuckerberg's famous comment about young people being smarter. I don't remember the exact quote, but it was suitably shocking and stupid so it's a candidate anyway. The thing I like about Rachel's take on this is that she gets right to the key thing: regardless of what field you're in, or how you spend your time, the vast majority of us are going to be neither horrible failures nor amazing successes. We're far more likely to just be ordinary human beings, who probably need to earn a living and have something useful to do every day. Fwiw I'm 58 and a working site reliability engineer and developer. I don't really live paycheck to paycheck, but neither can I just quit working and go instagramming about the globe. I'm fortunate to work for a very diverse company that values everyone for what they can contribute, but I am also cognizant of the people who will look at me and wonder why the greybeard never "made it." Those people probably won't "make it" either, and anyway, nobody seems to wonder why the old Italian guy in the town next to us still gets up every day and fixes shoes.

nobleach 8y ago
From a point of view, I might even agree with Zuck's asinine statement. When I was in my 20's, I had no idea how many things I truly did not know. So, in my limited "fresh out of college" way, I was pushing maximum intelligence. As the years have flown by, I've learned just how vast many fields are. Introspectively, I've learned that I'm not the brightest mind in any given room. As a matter of fact, I've just barely scratched the surface. Many, as they get older, realize this harsh reality. For me, I was probably very smart... and completely ignorant. In tech, this is inflated as we seem to rediscover old paradigms every few years, yet we look at those that may have lived through an earlier "discovery" as "irrelevant geezers". Many of could never dream to achieve the level of things that Alan Kay has forgotten, but we sure will treat his contemporaries as worthless. Zuck will get there some day. And I doubt history will remember his as a great visionary.
- chasing 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
  - justaaron 8y ago
    pre cise ly
- lowercased 8y ago
  > I've learned that I'm not the brightest mind in any given room I find it scarier when I am the brightest mind in a room, at least on a specific topic. I understand everyone has different backgrounds and experiences, and given the chance to share, many people can make contributions, even sometimes from people you may not expect at first blush. There are other times though when, not so much through hubris but sort of... delayed understanding(?) - I end up realizing I am the brightest/smartest in a room (at least for the topics at hand). Sometimes you're expected to lead - false modesty won't do anyone much good there. Sometimes you're expected to lead and someone else ends up thinking they're the smartest one, and become a pain to deal with. Looking back I realize I've been that person, and wonder if I could have done anything differently (honestly don't know - lots of factors at play there).
  - erik_seaberg 8y ago
    The day I noticed my tenure was longer than the median Google engineer was horrifying. "You mean half of these people know less than I do how this stuff works?"
QuantumGood 8y ago
Zuckerberg said this to attendees at the Y Combinator Startup School event at Stanford in late March, 2007 [1] "I want to stress the importance of being young and technical," he stated, adding that successful start-ups should only employ young people with technical expertise. (Zuckerberg also apparently missed the class on employment and discrimination law.) "Young people are just smarter," he said, with a straight face, according to VentureBeat. "Why are most chess masters under 30?" he asked. "I don't know...Young people just have simpler lives. We may not own a car. We may not have family." Chess masters do commonly mention noticing a decline in what might be called their raw processing power as early as their late 20's, but most results peak in their mid '30's [2] and some peak in their '40's. (And should spending your time playing chess be a marker for intelligence?) But wisdom is in part knowing what is worth working on (such as should you spend your time playing chess), and that is generally accepted to increase with experience. For example, the average age of entrepreneurs at the time they founded their companies is 42. [3] [1] https://www.cnet.com/news/say-what-young-people-are-just-smarter/ https://www.cnet.com/news/say-what-young-people-are-just-sma... [2] https://theconversation.com/anand-vs-carlsen-the-age-effect-in-the-world-chess-championship-20120 https://theconversation.com/anand-vs-carlsen-the-age-effect-... [3] https://hbr.org/2018/07/research-the-average-age-of-a-successful-startup-founder-is-45 https://hbr.org/2018/07/research-the-average-age-of-a-succes... EDIT: Fixed year of quote reference.
- neonate 8y ago
  That was 2007.
- wutbrodo 8y ago
  EDIT: parent comment edited it from 2017 to 2007. That makes a lot more sense Yeesh, in 2017? Zuckerberg was really young when he get vaulted into power and fame, so I've always been a little more sympathetic than most to his various foot-in-mouth moments[1], particularly in the past. But Jesus, 2017 was _last year_: how is he such a slow study at this? [1] I should not that I have some pretty severe disagreements with my understanding of his worldview and ethics, but I'm speaking strictly of gaffes here.
  - 8y ago
KKKKkkkk1 8y ago
Given that this is something Zuckerberg said 12 years ago, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he doesn't think that way anymore. (The benefits of experience!)
- manicdee 8y ago
  Given the wisdom of experience he doesn’t announce that anymore.
  - solveit 8y ago
    Or, you know, being 12 years older and realizing he hasn't turned into a stodgy old man who refuses to use anything but Fortran.
    - rapind 8y ago
      Not relevant to the original discussion or your point, but I've heard Fortran is still in use and pretty performant (and readable) for what it's being used.
      - solveit 8y ago
        Yes, between legacy software (powering expensive and irreplaceable legacy hardware), and a userbase that doesn't care so much about learning the fancy newer tools as long as they can do their experiments, I think it's still standard in many parts of physics.

nobleach 8y ago

From a point of view, I might even agree with Zuck's asinine statement. When I was in my 20's, I had no idea how many things I truly did not know. So, in my limited "fresh out of college" way, I was pushing maximum intelligence. As the years have flown by, I've learned just how vast many fields are. Introspectively, I've learned that I'm not the brightest mind in any given room. As a matter of fact, I've just barely scratched the surface. Many, as they get older, realize this harsh reality. For me, I was probably very smart... and completely ignorant. In tech, this is inflated as we seem to rediscover old paradigms every few years, yet we look at those that may have lived through an earlier "discovery" as "irrelevant geezers". Many of could never dream to achieve the level of things that Alan Kay has forgotten, but we sure will treat his contemporaries as worthless. Zuck will get there some day. And I doubt history will remember his as a great visionary.

chasing 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
- justaaron 8y ago
  pre cise ly
lowercased 8y ago
> I've learned that I'm not the brightest mind in any given room I find it scarier when I am the brightest mind in a room, at least on a specific topic. I understand everyone has different backgrounds and experiences, and given the chance to share, many people can make contributions, even sometimes from people you may not expect at first blush. There are other times though when, not so much through hubris but sort of... delayed understanding(?) - I end up realizing I am the brightest/smartest in a room (at least for the topics at hand). Sometimes you're expected to lead - false modesty won't do anyone much good there. Sometimes you're expected to lead and someone else ends up thinking they're the smartest one, and become a pain to deal with. Looking back I realize I've been that person, and wonder if I could have done anything differently (honestly don't know - lots of factors at play there).
- erik_seaberg 8y ago
  The day I noticed my tenure was longer than the median Google engineer was horrifying. "You mean half of these people know less than I do how this stuff works?"

QuantumGood 8y ago

Zuckerberg said this to attendees at the Y Combinator Startup School event at Stanford in late March, 2007 [1] "I want to stress the importance of being young and technical," he stated, adding that successful start-ups should only employ young people with technical expertise. (Zuckerberg also apparently missed the class on employment and discrimination law.) "Young people are just smarter," he said, with a straight face, according to VentureBeat. "Why are most chess masters under 30?" he asked. "I don't know...Young people just have simpler lives. We may not own a car. We may not have family." Chess masters do commonly mention noticing a decline in what might be called their raw processing power as early as their late 20's, but most results peak in their mid '30's [2] and some peak in their '40's. (And should spending your time playing chess be a marker for intelligence?) But wisdom is in part knowing what is worth working on (such as should you spend your time playing chess), and that is generally accepted to increase with experience. For example, the average age of entrepreneurs at the time they founded their companies is 42. [3] [1] https://www.cnet.com/news/say-what-young-people-are-just-smarter/ https://www.cnet.com/news/say-what-young-people-are-just-sma... [2] https://theconversation.com/anand-vs-carlsen-the-age-effect-in-the-world-chess-championship-20120 https://theconversation.com/anand-vs-carlsen-the-age-effect-... [3] https://hbr.org/2018/07/research-the-average-age-of-a-successful-startup-founder-is-45 https://hbr.org/2018/07/research-the-average-age-of-a-succes... EDIT: Fixed year of quote reference.

neonate 8y ago
That was 2007.
wutbrodo 8y ago
EDIT: parent comment edited it from 2017 to 2007. That makes a lot more sense Yeesh, in 2017? Zuckerberg was really young when he get vaulted into power and fame, so I've always been a little more sympathetic than most to his various foot-in-mouth moments[1], particularly in the past. But Jesus, 2017 was _last year_: how is he such a slow study at this? [1] I should not that I have some pretty severe disagreements with my understanding of his worldview and ethics, but I'm speaking strictly of gaffes here.
- 8y ago

KKKKkkkk1 8y ago

Given that this is something Zuckerberg said 12 years ago, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that he doesn't think that way anymore. (The benefits of experience!)

manicdee 8y ago
Given the wisdom of experience he doesn’t announce that anymore.
- solveit 8y ago
  Or, you know, being 12 years older and realizing he hasn't turned into a stodgy old man who refuses to use anything but Fortran.
  - rapind 8y ago
    Not relevant to the original discussion or your point, but I've heard Fortran is still in use and pretty performant (and readable) for what it's being used.
    - solveit 8y ago
      Yes, between legacy software (powering expensive and irreplaceable legacy hardware), and a userbase that doesn't care so much about learning the fancy newer tools as long as they can do their experiments, I think it's still standard in many parts of physics.