4 ms·

What struck me more is how somebody can get that far in life without properly examining themselves and their relationship with the world. Isn't she aware of the

What struck me more is how somebody can get that far in life without properly examining themselves and their relationship with the world. Isn't she aware of the stereotype that corporations are full of drones that will suddenly realize that they've wasted their life when they're forty? Hasn't she picked up a copy of Be Here Now on a coffee table somewhere? Was that really the first time that she's gazed at the stars and felt like she could do anything – doesn't everybody do that when they're 15? I suppose not everybody has hippy parents, not everybody is allowed to go to bonfire parties in their teens, not everybody takes LSD before their first corporate job. It's like we need another world war and then another 60's and 70's, but then no 80's to erase all the lessons we learned. Most people that I know who are in my generation (millennial) are incredibly self-aware and make life choices according to what they want out of life first and foremost. Sadly that often leaves them stuck without the skills to make a significant impact on the world and on the lives of those around them.

vehementi 13y ago
It's not hard to reason yourself into that situation... part it is that as a software dev in a corporation, you have a "better" life than 99+% of humans currently alive, or who have ever lived. You are unfathomably lucky. To even be in a position to contemplate "Oh, this career isn't spiritually fulfilling enough" necessitates an unbelievable amount of privilege (not using the word with any negative connotation). We are having this discussion right now between a bunch of other incredibly lucky and privileged people. If we included an average spectrum of 100 people in this discussion, we would have 50 starving people begging for an apple, 40 McDonalds workers pulling extra shifts to pay for their food tonight, etc. and our complaints would be absolutely ridiculous. Our discussion here within the HN community is like people in the yacht club lamenting that their yacht is aging and isn't made from the most prestigious woods. That is the kind of perspective your favorite drug can impart...

vehementi 13y ago

It's not hard to reason yourself into that situation... part it is that as a software dev in a corporation, you have a "better" life than 99+% of humans currently alive, or who have ever lived. You are unfathomably lucky. To even be in a position to contemplate "Oh, this career isn't spiritually fulfilling enough" necessitates an unbelievable amount of privilege (not using the word with any negative connotation). We are having this discussion right now between a bunch of other incredibly lucky and privileged people. If we included an average spectrum of 100 people in this discussion, we would have 50 starving people begging for an apple, 40 McDonalds workers pulling extra shifts to pay for their food tonight, etc. and our complaints would be absolutely ridiculous. Our discussion here within the HN community is like people in the yacht club lamenting that their yacht is aging and isn't made from the most prestigious woods. That is the kind of perspective your favorite drug can impart...