221–230 of 261 posts
When did this writing with no capitalization start to become a thing? I'm seeing it too often now. It's pretentious crap and quickly leads to me thinking that the writer doesn't want to be taken seriously, so why read it?
We need more people in this world willing to do their own thing, even if others might find it intimidating or silly. The important thing is to have fun and learn things. Compiler hacking is just as good as any other hobby, even if it's done in good jest. Sometimes, these things become real businesses. Not that this should be the intent of this, but it shows that what some consider silly, others will pay good money fo…
Josef Pieper wrote a book called "Leisure: the Basis of Culture"[0] - published in 1948 - in which he discusses the meaning of leisure, which is not what we mean by it today, and criticizes the "bourgeois world of total labor" as a spiritually, intellectually, and culturally destructive force. Today, we think of "leisure" as merely free time from work or recreation, something largely done to "recharge" so that we can…
Aristotle famously developed the Greek concept of εὐδαιμονία (eudaimonia), which dovetails into what you wrote. Roughly, the concept translates into "human flourishing" or "living well". While Aristotle's conception of what best constitutes this differed a bit from more ancient Greek concepts passed down through their oral tradition, and definitely differs from what we may consider today, it bears investigation. I definitely think that education and personal research fits into my conception of it, but tastes differ. Nietzsche gave what I considered some excellent responses to Aristotle, especially when it comes to finding / making meaning in our lives with respect to the modern world. The Transcendentalist school, in particular Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, also provided some interesting flavor.
I think that your questions should be asked continuously. We should all adjust our life trajectories based on our own flourishing, in ways that challenge us and lead to growth. There aren't clear answers to these questions. In fact, they should lead to a bit of discomfort, like sand in one's clam shell. Much as this sand will eventually form a pearl, these questions should drive us to better ourselves, little by little.
When did this writing with no capitalization start to become a thing? I'm seeing it too often now. It's pretentious crap and quickly leads to me thinking that the writer doesn't want to be taken seriously, so why read it?
I think Sam Altman popularized it with his tweets during the height of OpenAI, GPT popularity ~2023. Or maybe it was already trending by then but at least for me he was the first among prominent people to be doing it.
This all is good advice. Don't be intimidated, try new things, have fun. On top of that, keep your day job. Or have enough wealth to not need it. Otherwise fun may cease gradually, then abruptly. Keep the lower levels of the Maslow pyramid well-maintained.
This is like “draw the rest of the owl” advice. Most people struggle with the earn enough money to afford house in metro with multiple employers step. And earn enough money per hour to have time for other stuff.
I really resonate with it. When I was a teenager I was a burn out. I went to college and became enamoured with a field of study. Everyone thought I was very smart and people would drop the g word and it made me feel gross. I always just wanted to learn everything I could. Now I am in a very different area of practice. Partially because I got tired of being good. Making young professionals give talks to factory floors…
I feel like I can't have fun anymore because the AI can just do the thing instantly and you've got people on this website advocating to let the AI do everything while you merely read the code.
Whether its martial arts or writing assembly or vibe coding a mobile app if you approach it like that you are going to succeed.
This captures something crucial that gets lost in the "validate your SaaS idea in 48 hours" culture. The best products often emerge from deep exploration of a problem space without immediate commercial pressure. When you're optimizing for fun and learning, you make different architectural choices - you experiment with weird ideas that might unlock novel solutions. I see this in the analytics space constantly. Everyon…
We need more people in this world willing to do their own thing, even if others might find it intimidating or silly. The important thing is to have fun and learn things. Compiler hacking is just as good as any other hobby, even if it's done in good jest. Sometimes, these things become real businesses. Not that this should be the intent of this, but it shows that what some consider silly, others will pay good money fo…
There is a deeper hurt in the tech world, which is that we have all been conditioned to crave greatness. Every employer tries to sell us on how important what they do is, or how rich everyone will become. We can't even vacation without thinking how much better we will perform once we get back. That struggle with greatness is something every human grapples with, but for workers in tech it is particularly difficult to let it go. The entire industry wants us to hold onto it until we are completely drained.
Anyway the result is sentiments like this, where having fun, exploring and learning can't just exist for the inherent rewards.
When did this writing with no capitalization start to become a thing? I'm seeing it too often now. It's pretentious crap and quickly leads to me thinking that the writer doesn't want to be taken seriously, so why read it?
I think Sam Altman popularized it with his tweets during the height of OpenAI, GPT popularity ~2023. Or maybe it was already trending by then but at least for me he was the first among prominent people to be doing it.