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Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

alexand.ro

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Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#121

Post by save_ferris »

icelancer wrote: post #106
save_ferris wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. Instead of pointing out and criticizing the leaders of our society for their role in widening wealth inequality, we’ve happily created this fiction where we can all hop on the gravy train and become millionaires too.

This is not much of a fiction for a significant percentage of people reading Hacker News.

So what’s your point? That may be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that the median household income in 2018 was 32k.[0]

There’s not a single county in the US where a minimum wage income covers the cost of a two-bedroom apartment.[1]

Economically, we’re entering a new gilded age where legislative decisions increasingly favor the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

0: https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2018

1: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-06-20/...

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#122

Post by mklarmann »

zackmorris wrote: post #116

I was voted most spaced out in my high school yearbook. My creativity and problem solving skills at one point were pretty much off the charts. Got a computer engineering degree, had a few years working at great companies solving important problems. I have to be honest though, I no longer believe in the startup world. I'm so disillusioned now that I honestly don't know if I can write code anymore. There are so many ba…

I feel you. But I don’t things have to be looked at so narrow. There are hardly any people on this planet that have your opportunity to fix things for the better. There are enough challenges to put your heart into and find fresh energy if you start looking. You just need to fall in love again with something that you really consider worthwhile your time. I am sure there will be something.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#123

Post by rglover »

arez wrote: post #44

One aspect nobody mentioned so far is, why do I have to focus so much on my dreams and "work on the next rocket to mars"? Why isn't it okay anymore to just do my job, have friends and watch movies? Why does everyone has to be an entrepreneur and do a successful side-project? Why can't I just have a hobby that doesn't pay off at all, like playing an instrument alone in my room, without any pursue to ever play a concer…

You can, and please do—be happy. We need more happy people in the world. I've found that the people who push others or suggest others do what they're doing are insecure about their own pursuits (and I say that as someone who _does_ spend most of their time aggressively pursuing their own ideas).

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#124

Post by TeMPOraL »

qznc wrote: post #120
TeMPOraL wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope it won't. I mean, this was probably my biggest fear about parenthood. Observing other parents, I've noticed that a lot of them lost everything that made them interesting. The kids are the only things they care about now. I don't see this as a good thing - not for parents, and not for the children. If a parent's entire self gets consumed by child-rearing, what example do they set for their children? That the po…

I'm 8 years in and I still have other ambitions. My guess is your hope has a good chance. :)

Thank you for the reassurance!

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#125

Post by edejong »

redis_mlc wrote: post #89
edejong wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny thing is that Tesla made a lot of interesting inventions and discoveries, but was barely able to keep the focus to bring them to fruition. He had his lab busy with widely different experiments, oftentimes conflicting, leading to huge setbacks. Tesla is the prime example of a great mind with bad social skills and too many things juggling at the same time.

That's not even wrong. He got to do exactly what he wanted for most of his career, which was research, live in the Waldorf, and his patents were the foundation of Westinghouse. Ever look at a power substation and see all those Buck Rogers-looking transformers? Those are his original designs. Besides AC electricity generation and transmission, he also patented wireless remote control and was one of the earliest pionee…

He was a great inventor, yes. But the results of all his efforts, in mathematics and engineering were fruitless for him. He died in debt, a disillusioned man. And why? Perhaps a good biography of the man will enlighten you.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#126

Post by mam2 »

throwaway72873 wrote: post #32
mam2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both are orthognal. Prentending the contrary is just a way to find pride in deciding to be a geek who has no sex.

It is 2019, you do not need a relationship to have a sex.

The point iz that you dont live to be focused. At best you are supposed to focus sporadically to have better life.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#127

Post by solveit »

arez wrote: post #71
TeMPOraL wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selection bias. Nobody says you have to be like that. Just ignore the article and move on. For me, it resonates, because the perspective of "doing my job, having friends and watching movies" sounds depressingly empty to me. I want to work on the next rocket to Mars (yes, I really do want to work on space rockets - because I care about space rockets). I don't buy into the pressure you're seeing either. If your heart d…

it's not just this article. I feel the pressure in my every day life. I already have a job that fulfills me and where I give 100%, does that mean I will be the next CTO, no probably not, so I can't even claim to push my career that much. It's just that you read online about all these people that do open-source stuff, create their own website/business, build tools, do research etc. that you feel left out and the big p…

You feel left out because you are rightly left out. You're not interested in what they're doing, and so they're not interested in you. I don't see the problem here. Why are you asking to get noticed?

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#128

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

genezeta wrote: post #95
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #20

As someone that is "on the spectrum," I can report that focus can be pretty awesome. I generate vast amounts of code, in relatively short time, and am an insanely obsessive debugger. However, it don't come for free. If I get "roused" from my "fugue" (what I call "the zone"), I can be cranky. This has not always been helpful in my marriage. Also, I find that I can be "vocabularily challenged" for a few minutes after I…

> I generate vast amounts of code, in relatively short time But is it good code ? And I don't mean your code personally, but more in general. I've known people who are able to focus alright but then what they produce -be it code or anything else- is rather mediocre. I knew this person that would get on his workbench, and spend the whole morning in a flash, not noticing anything around him. He has a fairly large colle…

Excellent code.

My screen name here is also my GH handle. See for yourself.

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#129

Post by elevenoh »

rglover wrote: post #123
arez wrote: post #44

One aspect nobody mentioned so far is, why do I have to focus so much on my dreams and "work on the next rocket to mars"? Why isn't it okay anymore to just do my job, have friends and watch movies? Why does everyone has to be an entrepreneur and do a successful side-project? Why can't I just have a hobby that doesn't pay off at all, like playing an instrument alone in my room, without any pursue to ever play a concer…

You can, and please do—be happy. We need more happy people in the world. I've found that the people who push others or suggest others do what they're doing are insecure about their own pursuits (and I say that as someone who _does_ spend most of their time aggressively pursuing their own ideas).

>I've found that the people who push others or suggest others do what they're doing are insecure about their own pursuits

Alternatively, might they simply value to enter world (through themselves & others)?

Re: Focus has become more valuable than intelligence (2018)

#130

Post by zackmorris »

playing_colours wrote: post #9

“Anathem” by Neal Stephenson describes monastic communities dedicated to studying mathematics. I sometimes entertain an idea, if a similar monastic community can work in our world - assuming they would be less strict than in the book. Such isolated retreats would be beneficial for rebuilding focus, finding calm and comfort, without noisy distractions, so one could focus most of their time on studying mathematics. Def…

I would gladly join something like this. I don't care about money, I just need about $50/day to survive where I live. I have notes on hundreds of inventions that may never see the light of day. I don't even have time to watch Khan Academy videos to refresh me on the college calculus I need to solve some of the equations. Because I've spent every day the last 20 years struggling to make rent and my passion is on life support.

I've honestly given up at this point. Without some kind of alternative to whatever all this is, I consider the startup world to be an evolutionary dead end. I give it a very solid vote of no confidence and consider it so far removed from the world that we could have made that it's now actively suppressing any kind of real innovation.

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