I've observed a correlation between people who say things like "I could do X if I wanted to", motivation problems, and confusion about free will. I'm glad he ca

I've observed a correlation between people who say things like "I could do X if I wanted to", motivation problems, and confusion about free will. I'm glad he calls that phrase out as crap. Unfortunately: > If you aren’t 10x smarter than everyone now, how will you compete in 10-20 years? Imagine the math, physics, computer science, nanotech, biotech, etc. that will be common then — thus, you better get crackin! ... if you are less than 40 and aren’t working at least 15-18 hours a day you are not working enough, you simply can’t compete with the best in the world unless you are willing to throttle it that much is also crap. (I think it's obviously so.) Some ways in which it's crap, without really elaborating further: you don't need to compete with the best, the best work smarter not harder, the best aren't necessarily working on problems where competition is needed for financial success, there are more domains to work in than those mentioned plus at least math and CS (I lack experience to say the same about the others) have so many branches either unexplored or lightly tread that you can pretty easily get into a niche without competition, the fundamentals in CS 20 years ago aren't that different from now, the Singularity might happen in 20 years and make all your effort moot (unless you're working on making the Singularity happen!), humanity's progress might stall for the next 20 years, it might grow linearly instead of the usual exponentially, even with exponential growth it may not look radically different under the surface anyway, what does "10x smarter" even mean, why not recommend the Uberman sleeping schedule that gives 22 hours of conscious work a day? Here's a quote from the late Erik Naggum (from http://www.xach.com/naggum/articles/3141310154691952@naggum.no.html http://www.xach.com/naggum/articles/3141310154691952@naggum....): > ... if you think in terms of the imminent end of the world, _everything_ is soon food for the great garbage collector in the sky and whoever is not scrambling in panic looks like they aren't moving and have been passed by or are dying. > the problem I see is not that Bill Gates has shaped the world of useless trinkets in software, but has also managed to spread his competitiveness and his personal fear of losing to imaginary competitors to businesses and homes everywhere, so now everybody is _afraid_ of losing some battle which isn't happening, instead of getting about their own lives. like, if you aren't using today's fad language in the very latest version of the IDE, you'll be left behind. aaaugh! but it's good that some people run like they are scared out of their wits. if they suddenly disappear over the edge of a cliff, a good number of people will notice in time and _not_ follow them. those are the ones that matter. It's amusing to me that the author has replaced the fear of not being able to finish with the fear of losing. Fear is the mindkiller.