5 ms·

> Turns out there are faster kids, they just aren’t at your school Moving from Slovenia to SFBA in my mid 20's (~2015) was ... super fun like that. Sooo many p

by Swizec 2y ago

> Turns out there are faster kids, they just aren’t at your school Moving from Slovenia to SFBA in my mid 20's (~2015) was ... super fun like that. Sooo many people here are that most brilliant super talented engineer/founder/whatever from their home locale. But here we are just the norm.

gunian 2y ago
[flagged]
zdragnar 2y ago
We've got an idiom for that: being a big fish in a small pond. Then you move or have some experience that opens your eyes and you see that there are so many people out there that you're not actually as special / smart / talented / athletic etc as you thought. I've had the experience a few times myself, and it's always a bit of an existential wakeup call.
- wholinator2 2y ago
  Yeah, i was the best physicist the tiny impoverished state school had seen in years. I'm_significantly_ behind everyone else in my PhD program. But then, i tell myself if i can't be the best prepared, i can be the hardest worker. But realistically... nah. I'd rather stay _inside_ the 5th story window of my office. It's not a race, unless you're losing
  - whatshisface 2y ago
    Erdos could learn as much in five minutes as the average person can in five years, but there are more things to study than he had five-minute intervals.
    - yapyap 2y ago
      What
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - recursive 2y ago
        Erdos learn a million time faster than Grug. But Erdos still not learn everything.
        tornadofart 2y ago
        If topics infinite: Knowledge of Erdos bigger than knowledge of Grug, but ignorance of Erdos as big as ignorance of Grug: both infinite :)
- com2kid 2y ago
  My first job at Microsoft fresh out of college, my office mate had 2 PhDs, one in chemistry and one in physics. Related - About 10 seconds into my first job I decided that staying quiet for a bit and listening to people around me would be a very good strategy throughout life.
hinkley 2y ago
Being in the 99.9th percentile for intelligence just means that there are 8 million people in the world who are smarter than you. And a few more every day.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jjani 2y ago
> Moving from Slovenia to SFBA in my mid 20's (~2015) was ... super fun like that. Sooo many people here are that most brilliant super talented engineer/founder/whatever from their home locale. But here we are just the norm. Very similar story here! Grew up in the Netherlands, joined an SV company in my late twenties. Huge mix of imposter syndrome and sadness that I hadn't been able to experience such brilliant people earlier. Very much regret not choosing different educational paths that could've let me surrounded by them a decade earlier. I would've enjoyed life much more. On the other hand, I don't think either of us could've realized it before experiencing it first-hand, so no reason to beat oneself up over it.

by Swizec 2y ago

gunian 2y ago

[flagged]

zdragnar 2y ago

We've got an idiom for that: being a big fish in a small pond. Then you move or have some experience that opens your eyes and you see that there are so many people out there that you're not actually as special / smart / talented / athletic etc as you thought. I've had the experience a few times myself, and it's always a bit of an existential wakeup call.

wholinator2 2y ago
Yeah, i was the best physicist the tiny impoverished state school had seen in years. I'm_significantly_ behind everyone else in my PhD program. But then, i tell myself if i can't be the best prepared, i can be the hardest worker. But realistically... nah. I'd rather stay _inside_ the 5th story window of my office. It's not a race, unless you're losing
- whatshisface 2y ago
  Erdos could learn as much in five minutes as the average person can in five years, but there are more things to study than he had five-minute intervals.
  - yapyap 2y ago
    What
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - recursive 2y ago
      Erdos learn a million time faster than Grug. But Erdos still not learn everything.
      - tornadofart 2y ago
        If topics infinite: Knowledge of Erdos bigger than knowledge of Grug, but ignorance of Erdos as big as ignorance of Grug: both infinite :)
com2kid 2y ago
My first job at Microsoft fresh out of college, my office mate had 2 PhDs, one in chemistry and one in physics. Related - About 10 seconds into my first job I decided that staying quiet for a bit and listening to people around me would be a very good strategy throughout life.

hinkley 2y ago

Being in the 99.9th percentile for intelligence just means that there are 8 million people in the world who are smarter than you. And a few more every day.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

jjani 2y ago

> Moving from Slovenia to SFBA in my mid 20's (~2015) was ... super fun like that. Sooo many people here are that most brilliant super talented engineer/founder/whatever from their home locale. But here we are just the norm. Very similar story here! Grew up in the Netherlands, joined an SV company in my late twenties. Huge mix of imposter syndrome and sadness that I hadn't been able to experience such brilliant people earlier. Very much regret not choosing different educational paths that could've let me surrounded by them a decade earlier. I would've enjoyed life much more. On the other hand, I don't think either of us could've realized it before experiencing it first-hand, so no reason to beat oneself up over it.