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How to Think for Yourself

paulgraham.com

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Re: How to Think for Yourself

#411

Post by Kranar »

x87678r wrote: post #404

Some of my biggest regrets are doing what I thought was best when I should have done what everyone else was doing. This ranges from from not buying an overpriced house 20 years ago, to not partying at college, to following some interesting but unpopular technology. Its not all bad doing things your own way but you have to be careful about straying too much.

Fair enough but I did all the things you regret and I am very very happy I did them. Bought a house in 2009 when everyone said it was stupid because of the great recession, avoided partying, drinking or doing any kind of drugs, or "having fun" all throughout high school and university, and instead of using all the newest and greatest popular technologies I made my own libraries.

That house is now worth 3 times more today than when I bought it, almost all popular technologies from 10 years ago are dead and unmaintained today whereas the technology I made for myself forms the basis of my software company, and frankly I don't know many people in their 30s who still continue to maintain the same kind of friendship with their party buddies.

All this to say that it's irrelevant whether you do things everyone else does or do things no one else does. It's just a very poor way of reasoning about anything in life.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#412

Post by deltron3030 »

nickelcitymario wrote: post #175

Are there only a few paths for independent thinkers? > Independent-mindedness seems to be more a matter of nature than nurture. Which means if you pick the wrong type of work, you're going to be unhappy. If you're naturally independent-minded, you're going to find it frustrating to be a middle manager. And if you're naturally conventional-minded, you're going to be sailing into a headwind if you try to do original re…

Maybe a normal job that doesn't exhaust you mentally and then a hobby where you can go all in with being unconventional.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#413

Post by lanevorockz »

Sad state of affairs that people need to be thought how to think for themselves. It's unnatural and only a product of the current educational systems. Greek philosophers were able to do a lot of great work over 2 thousand years ago.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#414

Post by mcguire »

pontus wrote: post #406

I really appreciate the message in this article. I think another way to partition the world is into zero-sum and non-zero sum situations. In non-zero sum situations it's more important to be correct than novel, but in zero-sum situations it's important to be both correct and novel. One example I like to think about is the following: imagine having two boxes (A and B), one on each side of a football field. Exactly one…

You regard innovation as a zero sum game?

(Paul specifically says that to be successful, a founder has to be right and everyone else wrong.)

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#415

Post by mettamage »

x87678r wrote: post #404

Some of my biggest regrets are doing what I thought was best when I should have done what everyone else was doing. This ranges from from not buying an overpriced house 20 years ago, to not partying at college, to following some interesting but unpopular technology. Its not all bad doing things your own way but you have to be careful about straying too much.

IMO trade-offs in a lot of cases. There is rarely a decision that's better, except when you've lived through it once, but that doesn't count, as none of us have do-overs.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#416

Post by bluGill »

inglor_cz wrote: post #42
bluGill wrote: post #21

If you have an idea and nobody else is doing it, odds are not that you had a good idea; instead it is probably a bad idea that many others have had and failed at. When you have a seemingly original idea figure out who else had it and ask why they failed. That will give you insight into what you need to do better. Sometimes you will realize that it was a bad idea, other times you will know what to change to make it wo…

There is a big space of ideas of indeterminate value in between the "good" and "bad" poles. Was creating Uber a good idea? The company has grown a lot, but AFAIK is still not profitable; the jury is out on this one. In some cases, the answer is to try.

Uber is just a taxi company. Maybe better done (as you say, the jury is out) , but just a taxi company in the end. People get this idea that taxi company on the internet is some how unique, but it isn't really.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#417

Post by VoodooJuJu »

Kranar wrote: post #411
x87678r wrote: post #404

Some of my biggest regrets are doing what I thought was best when I should have done what everyone else was doing. This ranges from from not buying an overpriced house 20 years ago, to not partying at college, to following some interesting but unpopular technology. Its not all bad doing things your own way but you have to be careful about straying too much.

Fair enough but I did all the things you regret and I am very very happy I did them. Bought a house in 2009 when everyone said it was stupid because of the great recession, avoided partying, drinking or doing any kind of drugs, or "having fun" all throughout high school and university, and instead of using all the newest and greatest popular technologies I made my own libraries. That house is now worth 3 times more t…

I think that's exactly what they're saying - that they regret not partying and not buying that nice house.

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#418

Post by Yajirobe »

x87678r wrote: post #404

Some of my biggest regrets are doing what I thought was best when I should have done what everyone else was doing. This ranges from from not buying an overpriced house 20 years ago, to not partying at college, to following some interesting but unpopular technology. Its not all bad doing things your own way but you have to be careful about straying too much.

whats wrong with not partying in college?

Re: How to Think for Yourself

#420

Post by mcguire »

RickHull wrote: post #214

For those railing against this essay, who feel that PG is fluffing himself up and patting himself on the back like a nerdy middleschooler -- you've missed the big point, badly. PG writes unapologetically, directly, and simply, and this may pattern match to a naive middleschooler, but you are letting your base instincts cover up the fact that PG is wise, has earned his stripes, and is sharing his wisdom, unapologetica…

"He's writing to and for people like him, trying to help them put words and clear thought to vague understandings and apprehensions they've been wrestling with."

In other words, the conventionally unconventional? Those who are independent, but only in the right way?

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