Ask HN: I'm interested in so many disciplines, but what can I do with that?

Don't quit your day job - ya gotta pay the rent. And in the meantime, if you gain satisfaction from satisfying your curiosity about myriad things, go with that. It doesn't have to have an end or a greater purpose. Everybody you know has a head filled with things they'll never "usefully apply" to the greater world around them: it's a fact of life. So if you end up on your deathbed with nothing having really clicked for you - no celebrity, no fortune - then that's how it goes. There is always your family - don't screw that up. The world's a mess and so are most of the people in it so don't sweat it. Sturgeon's Law applies. But by all means gather friends around you with whom you can have civilized, intelligent conversation - it's important.

I’m interested in these as both a consumer and a contributor. However I haven’t found many interesting markets. Often are just markets on elections. Additionally many seem to have very small max bet size.

What markets have more interesting breadth of coverage + have decent betting limits? I had the impression cftc or sec limit this to avoid become a regulated security.

At the end of the day, nobody hires a generalist. So whatever you choose should either be private or creative.

But most importantly, the reason for the activity should be personal/internal. Otherwise the depressing reality of 0 will hit hard. I believe we're similar, with multiple interests, that's why I started my blog[1] and podcast, The Language of My Soul. But, the only audience is myself when I check it works fine haha.

I'd suggest writing. Trying to bridge together knowledge should be interesting. It's also very low commitment, just 5 minutes is good enough.

[1] https://langsoul.com

You haven’t said what you do for money. Is that all sorted out? Or, are you wealthy enough that you don't have to work?

It is very important to truly know yourself and design your life based on that.

I was born into enough wealth that I did not have to think about food, clothes, treatment, housing, etc. -the very basics. But, by no way were we rich.

So, I knew I had to work.

What work? After some disillusionment, a lot of naiveness-led-rigidity, I knew that it was anything that paid well, had any impact, was intellectually stimulating, and had smart, sophisticated (I am the judge of that, not the society's definition) colleagues.

I was focused on one particular field that turned out to be wrong.

The lesson here is not to be stringent and knowing yourself.

I am like you, too. I am generally curious about all imaginable things in life. My curiosity is all-encompassing. I just like to know how stuff came to be- how much can be known and how much can't. I understand the limit of platonic, epistemic knowledge. But I would like to form better pictures of everything around me. Is the Standard Model approach right? How did it come to be? Is quantized time real? How did the German nation come to be? What did Nagarjuna mean by zero? What effects do Godel's Incompleteness Theorem have on the future of Math?

None of these are directly related to my work.

But I like to know. Right now, I am learning Quantum Computing, Ethereum (I am opposite of a crypto-bro, and this tech interests me deeply), western classical music, and Madhyamika Philosophy.

But I do not get paid to do these.

My approach is- aside from work, family time, do things that deeply interest me. Let those areas influence my work and what I am, enrich myself, and be better. I also read a lot of interesting non-fiction and big fat novels like War and Peace and Don Quixote for entertainment.

I will tell you one thing that no one else told you in this thread-

_It is worth it to form deep expertise in a narrow area_.

By doing this, you not only become an expert in one area, but also learn how to become an expert in other areas.

Do not be opposed to the idea of "narrow areas". Because once you have the taste of "depth" in a "narrow area", you are forever hooked to that feeling. This will aid you to learn more in other fields.

I will tell you, but I have absolutely no proofs or reference, that true depth in some areas also helps you find connections better. It makes you learn better, in general.

Your aversion to narrow areas will cost you dearly, in my humble opinion.

Like others said, you can be a media person, but not a scholar with deep understanding of reality.

If you want to have a much better understanding of how reality works- in a much more informed, much more structured way- go deep into some and skim through many.

_Depth is a common meta_.

This is my understanding. I am not claiming to be truly right.

I have started reading something that might interest you-

Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. They are both designers and taught a class at Stanford that taught students how to design their life based on design principles.

It is a short book- unlikely to "change" my life or yours. But might learn new helpful things. Very relevant to your current situation.

I think it works best if you have a core field. The cross discipline knowledge would prevent group think and result in more original ideas.