Add Bret Victor to the list of people to read about when you want to be depressed about your lot in life. This list includes Fabrice Bellard et al. Bret is eve

Add Bret Victor to the list of people to read about when you want to be depressed about your lot in life. This list includes Fabrice Bellard et al. Bret is even more impressive since he combines hardware, software and UI skills. Why depressive? As Neal Stephenson mentions upon Hiro meeting Raven in Snow Crash. If you are over age of 25, you realize that there are certain levels of excellence that you will never reach even if you move to that Shaolin monastery. I think some people have this innate drive to excellence (how much of that is acquired and how much is inherited is another discussion) and apply themselves with full dedication. You can see Bret's teenage projects were already pretty impressive. Ever since then Bret's toolbox of skills has only multiplied till you see the effect today.