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> Nobody is a programmer, really Huh. So, being almost 50, having spent 35 of those years writing code and orienting the majority of my life around it - someho

> Nobody is a programmer, really Huh. So, being almost 50, having spent 35 of those years writing code and orienting the majority of my life around it - somehow that's separate from my identity? Do tell.

booleandilemma 3y ago
People like the person you're responding to, who haven't spent any significant amount of time to develop any sort of skills, console themselves by saying that no one is anything, because they themselves are nothing. "No one is an artist. No one is a programmer. No one is a football player." It doesn't make any sense of course, but it makes them feel like less of a loser. It's a sad coping mechanism.
- beepbooptheory 3y ago
  Aw. Life can be many things to people, friend. I feel like I know the meaning of commitment, and focus, but even if I didn't, that wouldn't make me a loser! You can live a life in ascetic focus toward mastery, or one filled with family and companionship and simple pleasure. Or something else entirely. It's all just people living life! I just think its more important to focus on what we do, rather than what we call ourselves. I don't think that precludes the existence of talented, amazing people!
  - booleandilemma 3y ago
    I'm not your friend, buddy :)
  - RugnirViking 3y ago
    The first step of learning any great skill is recognising that there are other people who are unimaginably better at it than you. The next step is understanding ways in which they are mere humans doing things you too can do. Then the next is going back to the first step, repeat ad nauseum. You will never reach the peak, and there will almost always be people below looking up at you. Try to find peace in this.
    - beepbooptheory 3y ago
      Thank for that wisdom. I'll try, but the force of my egoistic insecurities are just so strong! It has led me into this sorry, loser state where I constantly deny myself the humility due to me, of appreciating the single minded devotion and sacrifice of great masters of craft and skill and knowledge! Instead, I reject this beautiful aspect of humanity, plunging everybody into a purgatory of dilettantism! Perhaps one day, when I am tired keeping this up, when my own existential failures have exhausted even my own bad faith arguments, I will stand back and see life for what it is. I will see the programmers and the doctors. I will notice the calm adeptness and global purview of the grandmaster. The life-or-death meditation on the body and force of the karate master. The almost impossible marriage of precision and emotion of the musician. I will see this eventually, after my insecurities wither in age and malnourishment. All along I thought it was a source of pain, these great people, a reminder of my own inadequacy. But I'll realize, in the future, that this can actually be the most affirming thing about anyone's life! To even know of these great people! To be given a horizon itself, a set of peaks to aim for, is all that matters. Humility and admiration are blessings of life, and the high bar of human achievment only generates ever greater accomplishments for the world at large. It is important, even necessary, to recognize and attribute mastery and great accomplishment only where its due. Because otherwise nothing is real and everybody is fake. But I'm not there yet. I am young and I am more a dilletante than most, so it will take some time.
  - dukeyukey 3y ago
    > I just think its more important to focus on what we do, rather than what we call ourselves. And to describe what we do, we use words. I use the word "programmer" to describe how I spend my work day, mostly programming. I use the word "Londoner" to describe where I live, London. You can't escape using words to describe yourself!
beepbooptheory 3y ago
No. That stuff seems like a huge part of your identity!

booleandilemma 3y ago

People like the person you're responding to, who haven't spent any significant amount of time to develop any sort of skills, console themselves by saying that no one is anything, because they themselves are nothing. "No one is an artist. No one is a programmer. No one is a football player." It doesn't make any sense of course, but it makes them feel like less of a loser. It's a sad coping mechanism.

beepbooptheory 3y ago
Aw. Life can be many things to people, friend. I feel like I know the meaning of commitment, and focus, but even if I didn't, that wouldn't make me a loser! You can live a life in ascetic focus toward mastery, or one filled with family and companionship and simple pleasure. Or something else entirely. It's all just people living life! I just think its more important to focus on what we do, rather than what we call ourselves. I don't think that precludes the existence of talented, amazing people!
- booleandilemma 3y ago
  I'm not your friend, buddy :)
- RugnirViking 3y ago
  The first step of learning any great skill is recognising that there are other people who are unimaginably better at it than you. The next step is understanding ways in which they are mere humans doing things you too can do. Then the next is going back to the first step, repeat ad nauseum. You will never reach the peak, and there will almost always be people below looking up at you. Try to find peace in this.
  - beepbooptheory 3y ago
    Thank for that wisdom. I'll try, but the force of my egoistic insecurities are just so strong! It has led me into this sorry, loser state where I constantly deny myself the humility due to me, of appreciating the single minded devotion and sacrifice of great masters of craft and skill and knowledge! Instead, I reject this beautiful aspect of humanity, plunging everybody into a purgatory of dilettantism! Perhaps one day, when I am tired keeping this up, when my own existential failures have exhausted even my own bad faith arguments, I will stand back and see life for what it is. I will see the programmers and the doctors. I will notice the calm adeptness and global purview of the grandmaster. The life-or-death meditation on the body and force of the karate master. The almost impossible marriage of precision and emotion of the musician. I will see this eventually, after my insecurities wither in age and malnourishment. All along I thought it was a source of pain, these great people, a reminder of my own inadequacy. But I'll realize, in the future, that this can actually be the most affirming thing about anyone's life! To even know of these great people! To be given a horizon itself, a set of peaks to aim for, is all that matters. Humility and admiration are blessings of life, and the high bar of human achievment only generates ever greater accomplishments for the world at large. It is important, even necessary, to recognize and attribute mastery and great accomplishment only where its due. Because otherwise nothing is real and everybody is fake. But I'm not there yet. I am young and I am more a dilletante than most, so it will take some time.
- dukeyukey 3y ago
  > I just think its more important to focus on what we do, rather than what we call ourselves. And to describe what we do, we use words. I use the word "programmer" to describe how I spend my work day, mostly programming. I use the word "Londoner" to describe where I live, London. You can't escape using words to describe yourself!

beepbooptheory 3y ago

No. That stuff seems like a huge part of your identity!