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> In short - the pressures are due to having a narrow view of the world and what success means. Except success isn't merely a subjective idea. Even if you coul
by foobarqux 12y ago
> In short - the pressures are due to having a narrow view of the world and what success means.
Except success isn't merely a subjective idea. Even if you could somehow avoid internalizing other people's perception of you, you could not avoid how they treat you.
- chubot 12y agoYou're right: you can't control how people treat you, but you can choose your environment. You can choose which people you are surrounded by. If you don't want to be in a hypercompetitive environment, Palo Alto is probably not the place to be. Unfortunately those kids didn't have a choice. After being here for more than a decade, my experience is that the Bay Area is kind of a mixed bag. There is certainly the harsh truth that you need a certain amount of economic output to survive here. Lots of artists have been pushed out of SF over last decade or two, despite producing a lot of value for society. So this minimum requirement means is a lot of rat-race-ness, long commutes, and boring jobs. But there are also a lot of curious and interesting people who aren't necessarily motivated by money. And they are doing very interesting things.