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Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

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Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#311

Post by xiphias2 »

SyzygistSix wrote: post #307
xiphias2 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

,,Also going to the gym is pretty easy, so if you know “the path to happiness” why not just take it?'' I'm doing it but I'm 40 and the gains are not the same...my girlfriend left me for a younger and much stronger guy (and no, just younger wasn't enough in itself). Also in the 90s whenever I asked a girl if she likes muscular guys, they usually answered ,,not that much''. They are much more open nowdays about what th…

I got in fantastic shape and was less successful with women than before. Getting strong and fit is great, and I highly recommend it, but it really, really does not fix how we feel about ourselves.

That's strange, for me it definitely helps

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#312

Post by another_why »

Man, I see in Hacker Rank the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential. And I see it squandered. Goddamn it, an entire generation writing docs, fixing bugs, typing code. Slaves in digital collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no great war, no great depression. Our great war's a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on internet to believe that one day we'd all be crypto millionaires and famous scientists and popular video bloggers. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

Welcome to the club, pal.

P.S. > I sometimes wonder if my mental condition or my medication has had an effect on this: I'm bipolar schizoaffective and borderline.

I wonder why you wonder. Read the side effects of your medications: depression, sleep problems, aggression, agitation, fatigue. If you had this since childhood, that was one of the reasons you dropped out of university. The people you talk about don't have to deal with this shit, most people don't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_schizophre...

Look at this. How many people there are really famous and what's the proportion to the famous people without it? 0.000001%? And I bet most of them were just born in the right family and in the right country.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#313

Post by another_why »

lxxpxlxxxx wrote: post #294

"Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things. And I felt that at any moment they would realise that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things. On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a ver…

> And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did.

Nope, everyone did not. That's a good story to make yourself feel better, but Neil's personal psychological problems don't spread to everyone. People who feel accomplished due to their accomplishments exist.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#314

Post by another_why »

foobarian wrote: post #33

I have these kinds of feelings a lot. It is hard to feel useful in this day and age of a ubiquitous globally connected society because for anything you attempt to do you have instant access to the top 0.0001% of the Bell curve who you have no hope of ever beating. I find comfort in that I am not alone, thinking of all the peasants and regular workers across history who didn't amount to much either, but still mostly f…

> And lastly, I found that there is one thing that one can do that is absolutely unique that nobody can match anywhere in the world, and that is - as corny as this sounds - kids.

Great recommendation to a man who is bipolar and have a schizoactive disorder.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#315

Post by SyzygistSix »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #36

> Nothing I’m doing in my life are anything that people will remember me for. I never expected to be remembered beyond my generation and it always surprises me to find out that some people DO expect that. I'd argue that 99% of people are entirely unremarkable and will be forgotten entirely within 2 generations of their death. The sooner you come to terms with that and accept it, the better.

I was rewatching the original Muppet Show and they have on guest after guest of incredibly multi-talented singing, acting, and dancing stars of stage and screen. The irony is that as famous (and incredibly accomplished) as they were just recently, few people have even heard of those folks today.

My take away from that observation is that if you are going to do pretty much anything, do it for its own sake.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#316

Post by SyzygistSix »

uptownfunk wrote: post #133

This was strangely motivational. Given how you write and your degree of introspection you can get to where you want to be. One thing I realized lately, is the hard work you put in today may not bear fruit for a while. There's also a power of compounding. Ultimately it all starts with what you are passionate about. Not to be rude, it's good you feel shallow and dumb, because it shows you perceive the absence. So now i…

>And you are only 30!

Seriously. This is very young. Even among very successful people, most have just barely built their foundation at age 30.

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#317

Post by WesleyJohnson »

WA wrote: post #270
WesleyJohnson wrote: post #195

With the exception of a few details, I swear I could've authored this post. I feel the exact same. I'm starting to slowly realize that it's a vicious cycle for me. When my family wants to go do things, I want to stay at home and "work on my projects". So I spend a lot of my free time in front of the computer, trying to think of a cool thing I could build. That turns into youtube binging or twitter stalking, realizing…

> When my family wants to go do things, I want to stay at home and "work on my projects". Try to get into the habit of saying yes to all their activities for a while. You gotta treat time away from the computer as room you make in your head for new impulses. You will never find it on the internet. The internet rewires your brain into inaction. Especially since your body is inactive as well in front of the computer. I…

I do agree, it's hard to break the cycle. I've been a little better in the last couple of months, but I can work harder to allow myself to step away. I know I can't will myself into an epiphany, so why try?

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#318

Post by smusamashah »

carnitine wrote: post #96
biggestlou wrote: post #7

There's no such thing as "raw" intelligence. Those people you find so incredibly impressive who have done such worthwhile things? Every single one of them sucks ass at a multitude of things. Every single one of them would see something in your set of capabilities that would astound them. It takes a vast constellation of capabilities, including yours, to create and sustain our world.

John von Neumann could multiply eight digit numbers mentally and hold conversation in multiple languages by the age of six. How could that be attributed to anything but raw intelligence? Had his parents somehow stumbled upon the perfect formula for child rearing in 1900s Hungary?

There are videos of a 4 year old girl who can speak in the languages. https://youtu.be/7nzpnQZcFw0

Can you explain this?

Re: Ask HN: I feel so shallow and dumb when I see what other smart people are doing

#319

Post by WesolyKubeczek »

wiether wrote: post #289
foobarian wrote: post #33

I have these kinds of feelings a lot. It is hard to feel useful in this day and age of a ubiquitous globally connected society because for anything you attempt to do you have instant access to the top 0.0001% of the Bell curve who you have no hope of ever beating. I find comfort in that I am not alone, thinking of all the peasants and regular workers across history who didn't amount to much either, but still mostly f…

> And lastly, I found that there is one thing that one can do that is absolutely unique that nobody can match anywhere in the world, and that is - as corny as this sounds - kids. Eat, shit, sleep, reproduce, die. Living being 101. But the main thing about having kids is that you will not have time to think about how your life sucks anymore. Probably better than taking drugs to achieve the same result.

Bullshit. Now in addition to sucking at my job, I suck as a parent. And also suck at my job more. Double burnout whammy.
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