The OP speculates that few people are capable of 'functioning without recourse', and that those who do so can make it at the executive level, and so seem more a

The OP speculates that few people are capable of 'functioning without recourse', and that those who do so can make it at the executive level, and so seem more alive. There's an alternative pathway. Perhaps, put in a position of responsibility, which most people in modern society seem to have managed to avoid, the situation draws liveliness and performance out of you? PG seems to have witnessed that transformation. I would guess that it's a greater effect than selection. http://paulgraham.com/boss.html http://paulgraham.com/boss.html