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Not going to university or dropping out of it is the most expensive countersignal of all, and it also knocks away the ladder for people who might try to follow

Not going to university or dropping out of it is the most expensive countersignal of all, and it also knocks away the ladder for people who might try to follow you into your chosen endeavour. I've been articulating this dynamic for a long time and tell anyone who thinks I am an example that it's a terrible example to follow - mostly because the countersignals become the signal, as really, if you really want to prove how smart you are, go win a Fields medal, or perhaps you have a cancer cure to help my friend, or maybe you can make something somebody else actually wants for a change - and if you aren't that smart, then maybe you should work less on seeming smart and more on demonstrating you are good at something and use the opportunities that come from the respect of your competence and ability to share it with others, instead of affecting the aura of brilliance at being a failed or frustrated genius. These admonishments are as much to myself as anyone else who resembles them. Countersignals are vulgar artifacts of the 90s that a bunch of nouveau middle class people are just starting to figure out now, and they only fool rubes and are a way to figure out who to follow and how to climb socially, but never how to do something beautiful or great. I call them fart-connoisseurs because I know what it is like to be one. These days I use this quote a lot, which is, "Don't be so humble, you aren't that great." When I'm great, I will be humble. Until then, check out how awesome my effort that yielded something objectively crappy is, and even though it's not above criticism, it did the job, which is more than brilliance ever did. Maybe that is knocking the ladder away too, but that ladder went nowhere anyway. :) Big fan of Rob Hendersons newsletter. Recommend.

the_only_law 4y ago
> Not going to university or dropping out of it is the most expensive countersignal of all I think this was the worst mistake I’ve made to date.
- motohagiography 4y ago
  Forgive your imagined mistakes. It was a handicap I chose and controlled, based on a very deep seated mistrust of authority, which led me to avoid taking on a small challenge that millions of other normal kids do all the time. Live and learn. The 90's counter signal trope of success without school was as misleading as the trope you had to get a degree to amount to anything, which was contemptuous of the generations of working class families who created the culture that produced those institutions. None of it means anything so long as you own it, but it is a different life, literally, a different trajectory by degree.
- randomdata 4y ago
  It's not a foregone conclusion. Presumably you'll want something to do in retirement.
blitzar 4y ago
> Not going to university or dropping out of it is the most expensive countersignal of all Pure survivorship bias. If facebook flopped zuck would have been back at university after a "sabatical" and would now be middle management in a cubicle at a consulting company.

the_only_law 4y ago

> Not going to university or dropping out of it is the most expensive countersignal of all I think this was the worst mistake I’ve made to date.

motohagiography 4y ago
Forgive your imagined mistakes. It was a handicap I chose and controlled, based on a very deep seated mistrust of authority, which led me to avoid taking on a small challenge that millions of other normal kids do all the time. Live and learn. The 90's counter signal trope of success without school was as misleading as the trope you had to get a degree to amount to anything, which was contemptuous of the generations of working class families who created the culture that produced those institutions. None of it means anything so long as you own it, but it is a different life, literally, a different trajectory by degree.
randomdata 4y ago
It's not a foregone conclusion. Presumably you'll want something to do in retirement.

blitzar 4y ago

> Not going to university or dropping out of it is the most expensive countersignal of all Pure survivorship bias. If facebook flopped zuck would have been back at university after a "sabatical" and would now be middle management in a cubicle at a consulting company.