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Earlier quoted context omitted.
You'll come up for air around 3 and minor hobbies will re-emerge around 5. I would recommend finding some deeply informed and interesting podcasts on subjects you expect to be helpful in order to educate yourself passively during the early years.
And many parents we know (ourselves included) give up exercise. If at all possible, try to maintain some semblance of an exercise routine.
This essay has a very individualist underlying assumption that one person has to do it all. Maybe that's not true? Could a community of hobbyists who share the same obsession make progress? If a lot of the effort comes from going down blind alleys until you hit on something, it seems like the work could be pretty easily distributed?
Same deal with stuff like speedrunning communities, eSports scenes, etc.
Or outside of that field, open source software development and web development in general. How many of the advancements in say, programming language design are made by hobbyists compared to academics?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And many parents we know (ourselves included) give up exercise. If at all possible, try to maintain some semblance of an exercise routine.
Best way to do that is bike to work.
My personal experience (speaking as someone who is somewhat of an expert in a rather obscure oceanographic sub-field) is that the development of talent and interest (can) go hand in hand. You dig in, develop some skills, this opens up some possibilities that encourage (and provide encouragement) for you to develop further interest and further abilities, etc. The most radical form of the hypothesis is that we can develop a deep interest in almost anything. The 20 yr old me had no interest in the things that I am deeply interested in now.
For parents and future parents I will note that in contrast to PG's suggestion, having children has been a significant motivator and my best work has resulted in part from the desire to provide for them. It was also produced during the last 10 yrs that I have been a parent. I am far from any kind of genius or outlier however, and it seems likely that the time required to be one would conflict with the time spent raising children.
Overall, the evidence is that the brain is extremely pliable, that elite performers in any field put in many intensive hours of practice, and that to some extent their deep interest in their field developed over time. Perhaps conclusive research about the innateness of interest is out there. In the mean time, I also experiment with encouraging the depths of my children's interests.
an ode to metaphorical basement dwellers and a warning to those roaming illuminated paths
Nasreddin lost his ring in the basement of his house. He went outside and began searching. A curious passerby asked what he was doing.
"I've lost my ring" he said. "Where did you lose it?" asked the man.
"In the basement of my house" he replied. "Then why not look for it there?" said the man. "Because it's dark in my basement, and I can't see a thing in there!"
and a tool recently mentioned here for evaluating bets
I agree with his theory, but what I find particularly interesting is that I think most people do not have an obsessive interest in anything at all. And as someone who has obsessive interests in a lot of things (some “useful”, some not), that seems really odd to me: how can you just be satisfied to go to work, come home, watch TV, and go to bed each day? (Not saying that’s the wrong way to live, just saying it is surp…
Work part-time? I get 1-2 days off per week for projects (and house stuff) then in the evenings/weekends I actually have time and energy for playing with my child.
Plus, it's better for the environment than more work, more consumption.
I don't know, but now I want to put some thought into it.
I agree with his theory, but what I find particularly interesting is that I think most people do not have an obsessive interest in anything at all. And as someone who has obsessive interests in a lot of things (some “useful”, some not), that seems really odd to me: how can you just be satisfied to go to work, come home, watch TV, and go to bed each day? (Not saying that’s the wrong way to live, just saying it is surp…
Here’s a benchmark question: is it better to be right or be popular?
On a more spiritual note, we're all bus ticket collectors. PG is defining "matters" as "what can make money", which is fine for a business-focused essay, but it does what we all attempt to do - convince ourselves that our domain has significance. The truth is, whether we're bus ticket collectors or Bill Gates, we're all headed to the grave. Bus tickets or billionaires, we're all getting burned up. Both science and re…
Did Newton or Darwin make a lot of money?