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> There's nothing wrong with you - I'm guessing you just had, like most of us, a fantasy about shaking up the world somehow. That's a very interesting statemen
by badpun 7y ago
> There's nothing wrong with you - I'm guessing you just had, like most of us, a fantasy about shaking up the world somehow.
That's a very interesting statement. Almost all people I know here in Poland, including myself, dream of having a life devoid of external pain, obligations, limitations etc., so that you can do whatever they choose to do. Rarely if ever anyone mentions anything about wanting to have a greater impact.
Maybe that's the next step of rich consumer society that US is at and that Poland hasn't reached yet - one in which people are aware that living (surviving in relative comfort) is easy, so they need to raise the bar for themselves somehow or they'll get depressed over the lack of challenges.
Or maybe it's just a cultural difference? American society is very much a culture of doers, while Polish is not. There are societies even richer than American, for example the Quatari, where people seem just content to mostly do not do anything particularly ambitious and just hang out.
- circlefavshape 7y agoBy "us" I meant hacker news commenters. I'm not American
- badpun 7y agoAh, that's different then. However, even among "us", I think there's a pretty big split among those who want to have an impact (which sometimes goes hand in hand with wanting to "be the kind of person who is impactful", i.e. being ego driven) and those who just want to learn and do things for its own sake. The Jobses and the Wozes if you will.