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This reminds me of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, which has a quote Aziz Ansari used in his series “Master of None”: > "I saw my life branching out before me
by acwan93 6y ago
This reminds me of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, which has a quote Aziz Ansari used in his series “Master of None”:
> "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."
- bmc7505 6y agoThis reminds me of a speculative fiction story by Ted Chiang called "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom" which imagines an expendable device that gives users the ability to contact alternate versions of themselves in other branches, and explores the moral and psychological consequences of learning about those outcomes: https://onezero.medium.com/anxiety-is-the-dizziness-of-freedom-b5ab45cae2a5 https://onezero.medium.com/anxiety-is-the-dizziness-of-freed...
- Alex3917 6y agoOn the same topic, one of my favorite Moth stories is Alternate Ithaca Tom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70CCXXz0qzo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70CCXXz0qzo
- Felony_Fred 6y agoExcellent break down of the concept by Jordan Peterson, professor of psychology at the University of Toronto ( 9:18 ); Jordan Peterson Pick Your Sacrifice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5--W9mhC4zA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5--W9mhC4zA
- anoxor 6y agoYes, this.
- war1025 6y agoYoutube has been recommending a lot of Jordan Peterson to me lately. I know there are people who hate on him for basically misinterpretations of things he has said regarding transgender issues. But then on top of that, there are right wing people that hate him equally much and think he's basically a nonsense-spouting sycophant. I guess listening to the things he has to say, I think they are on par with the more useful things I ever heard from a professor at university. Anyway, he seems to be someone people love to hate.
- ReactiveJelly 6y agoThe dude is really hard to understand. He says a lot of stuff that just seems like vague unactionable self-help advice. So I err on the side of caution by assuming he isn't worth listening to. He also reeks of certainty, like I'm wrong just for asking what the fuck he's trying to tell me because it's so obvious... to him.
- blhack 6y agoThe clip that OP linked to is a 9 minute segment of a semester long, graduate level psychology class. It shouldn't be surprising that it is hard to follow without some additional context.
- srean 6y agoHe often uses false dichotomies to advocate his views, for example, the left is against freedom and liberty, you have to decide if you are for the Gulag Archipelago society or a capitalistic society etc; as if they were the only two possible options. I can possibly sift through YouTube to get to the videos where he claims these things, but it will not be the most palatable of chores.
- ternaryoperator 6y agoThat book contains some the finest writing ever done in the English language. Her ability to capture emotions and present them in detail-perfect images is breathtaking.
- acwan93 6y agoYeah I got the book as soon as I heard that quote from Master of None. It’s an eloquent novel that really highlights mental health and self-identity.
- superkuh 6y agoIt reminds me a lot of "The Guy I Almost Was" (Patrick Sean Farley) http://www.electricsheepcomix.com/almostguy/ http://www.electricsheepcomix.com/almostguy/ . It's an old (from the early 2000s) comic about trying to get into the tech scene in the 90s. Alternate life paths are explicitly explored.
- pansa2 6y agoFantastic analogy. To go a bit further, what surprised me when trying to choose which branch to take was how narrow each branch is. It’s not enough to pick the “software development” branch, you have to pick a specialty within that. And, it has to be a single specialty. In my particular case, it was hard to accept that I couldn’t be both a successful programming language designer and a successful game developer.
- madeofpalk 6y agoGiven some games have their own scripting systems and languages I’m not sure if that’s all so true!
- contravariant 6y agoI consider 'generalist' to be a speciality, though I might be a bit odd.
- ubertoop 6y agoI think everyone wrestles with this a little bit. Should you really dig in and focus on mobile, web, server, game, firmware? If so, should you focus on one language? I don't so much question paths in my life as I feel very lucky to have ended up where I am. I do question on a daily basis, whether I should stop learning and adopting new technologies, and focus on ONE domain for the rest of my life. It seems I am destined to be a jack of all trades, master of none, if I let life continue to unfold as it has over the last 10 years, bumping around as needed from my employers to new or different domains.
- kordlessagain 6y agoThere's probably an analogy here in cost of task switching. Switch too much and one finds themselves with too many tasks and too little time. Switch too little and the doings or learnings may become monotonous. As with most things good, it takes skill to play it well.
- anderspitman 6y ago> I couldn’t be both a successful programming language designer and a successful game developer Why not? Jonathan Blow seems to be making a pretty good run at it.
- dorchadas 6y agoAs someone who feels like I've wasted most of my 20s since graduating university (turning 29 in 2021) with a job(s) I don't see any future in, man this hits hard. My lack of risk taking, and an unfortunately timed death in the family in 2016, really are me sitting there watching these figs dry up. Damn.
- costcopizza 6y agoI feel the exact same way, and am the exact same age. But we’re 29, not 49 or even 39. There’re still figs on the tree.
- abnercoimbre 6y ago29 and ditto. You know the phrase "30's is the new 20's." There's some truth to it, right?
- warent 6y agoI've never really understood what this means. Did people in their 20s have their life pretty well together in the past? or does it mean when you're in your 30s is the best time to start partying and throwing caution to the wind? Is your 30s when you first leave home and get a higher education? It's really a really confusing turn of phrase to me. I must be missing context
- Spooky23 6y agoMost people would be married with families by their late 20s. Now many enter into a sort of second childhood and settle down in their 30s or beyond. Hell, I still have some acquaintances from school who are slowly transitioning into the creepy old guy hitting on 24 year olds.
- ekanes 6y agoMy take on it is: At whatever age you are, you still feel like there's lots of time ahead of you, because people live longer/can do more/etc.
- F_J_H 6y agoReminds me of "Buridan's ass" named after a 14th century French philosopher who described a donkey dying of starvation while standing between two perfectly good stacks of hay, because it couldn't decide which to eat.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 6y agoI am not sure why, but the quote triggered a memory of 8bit theater in my head: "Life is funny. You start out with limitless potential, but time is always shaving away the possibilities. Every choice you make is the choice not to do a thousand other things. What's important, when all is said and done, is that you made a difference. Your choices, and everything undone, have to mean something. Otherwise, what is the point?" We branch out, but we ultimately keep heading towards the very same outcome.
- XorNot 6y agoQuotes like this have gotten a lot less comforting as I've aged. It all ends in darkness and black holes, and in the end not even those. The best I've got these days is that I suspect none of it means anything. But I hope I'm wrong.
- kd5bjo 6y agoFor a counterpoint, we can look to the Stoics who want us to focus on the present rather than dwell on the past: "For although in regard of that which is already past there may be some inequality, yet that time which is now present and in being, is equal unto all men. And that being it which we part with whensoever we die, it doth manifestly appear, that it can be but a moment of time, that we then part with. For as for that which is either past or to come, a man cannot be said properly to part with it. For how should a man part with that which he hath not? ... that life which any the longest liver, or the shortest liver parts with, is for length and duration the very same, for that only which is present, is that, which either of them can lose, as being that only which they have; for that which he hath not, no man can truly be said to lose. -- Marcus Aurelius, http://gutenberg.org/files/2680/2680-h/2680-h.htm#link2H_4_0031 http://gutenberg.org/files/2680/2680-h/2680-h.htm#link2H_4_0... "XorNot" is a title inhabited by many different people over time: the person that held that title this time last year is not you, and the "XorNot" of today will give way tomorrow to yet another person. Each can only be properly considered in the context of the situations they inherited and those left for their successors.
- 6y ago
- ffhhj 6y agoWhile Diogenes was relaxing in the morning sunlight, Alexander, thrilled to meet the famous philosopher, asked if there was any favour he might do for him. Diogenes replied, "Yes, stand out of my sunlight." Alexander then declared, "If I were not Alexander, then I should wish to be Diogenes." "If I were not Diogenes, I would still wish to be Diogenes," Diogenes replied.
- Buttons840 6y agoReminds me of the game of Go. Infinite possibilities in the beginning, but as the game progresses the end state of the board becomes clearer and clearer. Also, you can't have it all, sometimes you try to control the whole board and end up losing a lot of what you could have had.
- Waterluvian 6y agoForgive my nerding. This week I've been playing dark souls. I couldn't commit to a plan this time around and so now I'm part mage, part rogue, part knight, and I can't use any of the good weapons and I have like five weapons all partly upgraded. My figs all rotted and my character is just so mediocre.
- hn_99 6y agoIt's definitely easier to commit to one path. I've played bloodborne and DS3 twice and dark souls remastered once. I completed all my playthroughs with a quality melee build. Despite these 5 playthroughs, my understanding of the game is quite narrow. I have no idea what playing as a sorcerer, pyromancer etc would be like, so at least you get that.
- Machado117 6y agoPlaying as a sorcerer is like an hidden easy mode. You can just hurl spells at enemies from a safe distance.
- twelvechairs 6y agoReminds me of the famed Jacques Brel song 'La chanson de Jacky' - He sings through many possible exotic futures for himself, but what he really wants to do is return to his childhood where he can be "Beau, beau, beau et con à la fois" ("Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful and stupid at the same time")
- teekert 6y agoWhat I don't like about this quote is that it pretends you just have to choose between all these attractive and worthwhile goals and that the choosing is the difficult part. In reality though you may opt for a career, leave the family but fail. Or you may put your career on a lower pitch only to have your wife and you decide it won't really work out. In reality, it's more like you start to climb for a fat purple fig only to find it rotten, or just edible. At least in some of the cases, and it won't be your fault and your success depends on how you deal with the said fig. Maybe you can still climb to another?
- shortandsweet 6y agoWhy do you assume it's not your fault?
- selestify 6y agoDepends on your perspective, obviously. But personally I'd say we're much more a victim of circumstance than the other way around, and all success or failure is only very partially dependent on the choices we made.
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- dm319 6y agoWe aren't nearly as in control of our lives as we like to think, and we often construct stories and arcs to explain our paths. Actually, most of what has happened to us, whether we've been successful or not, is down to chance, starting with the family and location you were born into.
- adrianN 6y agoA large part of life is just luck. Think of all the chance events that had a big impact on your life. For me for example, almost all my success hinges on me randomly seeing a certain poster in a hallway in 2008.
- mellosouls 6y agoThat's a beautiful rendering of the anxiety of choice and FOMO.