191–200 of 332 posts
People hate programming when they do it with 1000 other colleagues. The same programming is rewarding when they do it alone - since, that lets them do things that no one in the world is doing.
That may be true for startups in general. Doing startups seem cool since only a handful (<10%) of total population is doing it. If everyone starts doing it, it may not be as cool.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed. For me it's not so much the absolute requirements (i.e. 8 hours a day, these specific hours, can't do anything else within that time) but rather the subordinate aspect of having no control over that. The way in which it's just the only option for seemingly _no reason_. It's totally arbitrary. I'd love to work a job where I could say, choose three days a week to work (or alternatively have 100 days holiday, re…
Thanks Stegosaurus, for articulating so well what I have also been strongly feeling about work. I liked this part especially: "For me it's not so much the absolute requirements (i.e. 8 hours a day, these specific hours, can't do anything else within that time) but rather the subordinate aspect of having no control over that." I would restate that in my own way as follows: I consider myself thirsty for life, thirsty a…
That's my dream, anyway. I don't think 100 years is too far out for AGI. A robust utopian economy might be a little further out...
How important is it to do something you love that helps you in live comfortable life? For example, I always loved theatre and plays but I was told in young age that it's very hard to support comfortable life as a thespian (unless you are breakout success); so best not to take that as a career even though it may really work out for you.
This excerpt - "what he really liked was solving problems. The text of each chapter was just some advice about solving them. He said that as soon as he got a new textbook he'd immediately work out all the problems—to the slight annoyance of his teacher, since the class was supposed to work through the book gradually." is literally me. I did that. Every year at my school I did exactly that. Once I actually turned in m…
Accusing people of being "arrogant" is a cheap way feel righteously indignant at the expense of someone smarter than you. I was fortunate enough to have some very nice teachers in grades 11-12, who complimented me on my intelligence and didn't try to take me down a notch for the sake of their own egos (nothing wrong with the teachers below grade 11, these issues just didn't come up as much at that time).
I studied mathematics as an undergrad, and later got into programming. Now I do machine learning as my job, and study dependently typed programming languages for fun. If you like mathematics I highly recommend Haskell and Idris (or Coq or Agda, but I found Idris them most approachable, as a programmer). In 50 years I think everyone will be using something dependently typed languages (or some other kind of language that is also fundamentally different to existing languages).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
a lot of it is just cultural approach. math people tend to like to rigorously define everything they're doing, and work from there. physics is more like "what can we make up and fudge and twist and bend and then get the right answer." there's a lot of people who aren't as comfortable working in that less-defined context. some of this is maybe inherent to the aim of physics, some of it is just physics machismo culture…
I don't think it's just cultural. Ultimately in physics you are often faced with a pile of observations from nature that you have to make sense of. Vs math, where you usually have a mass perfectly defined err.. well math that you're trying to build forward upon. I think the best advances in both math and physics are made with people with an excellent grasp of when to move forward with existing constructs, and when to…
What if the idea of work itself is what you dislike? There are plenty of activities I can enjoy, and some, quite a few of them in fact, are profitable. Once you shoe-horn them into the power dynamic situation of a traditional job (with the bureaucracy that entails unless you're dealing with Actual People as opposed to corporations), suddenly a lot of the luster disappears. As a ridiculous example - I enjoy reading. I…
As an addition to this, I've struggled a lot with the concept of working for pay and only recently could I really begin to explain why. Some people would probably call it 'entitlement', but I'm not really sure that's an accurate description. As an employee, your role is essentially a permanent state of brown nosing. First of all you must convince a rich person/company that you are worthy. Then you must convince them…
And if you possess that and still can't stand the status quo, you get to invent a new one: start your own thing, and do it your way.
I discovered very early on that I was incapable of working for other people, for numerous reasons. So I figured out how I could arrange my life so that I wouldn't have to ever work for someone else; and of course, there were trade-offs, but they were worth it.
What if the idea of work itself is what you dislike? There are plenty of activities I can enjoy, and some, quite a few of them in fact, are profitable. Once you shoe-horn them into the power dynamic situation of a traditional job (with the bureaucracy that entails unless you're dealing with Actual People as opposed to corporations), suddenly a lot of the luster disappears. As a ridiculous example - I enjoy reading. I…
As an addition to this, I've struggled a lot with the concept of working for pay and only recently could I really begin to explain why. Some people would probably call it 'entitlement', but I'm not really sure that's an accurate description. As an employee, your role is essentially a permanent state of brown nosing. First of all you must convince a rich person/company that you are worthy. Then you must convince them…
For example, a lumber will chop down trees and sell them for $5000. He changes forest into logs. A house builder will buy those trees, and then take the money he has saved and pay someone to make the planks, another person to nail them, and another person to do all the other things needed to make a house. This person changes some wood and metal into a house.
He will then put this house on the market and someone will offer him $30,000. His total cost was $15,000 and by selling this house he has paid back what he invested and has an additional $15,000 he can reinvest.
This person made more money than you (the laborer) because he changed more things. He changed some wood and metal into a house, while you simply changed wood into a plank as directed by him. Sure, he hired you and 3 other guys who technically did all the work. But this is a situation where the sum is vastly more than the total of the parts. You were the cogs in his "house building system".
If you don't like where you are, figure out how you can change this world more so than how you are now.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As an addition to this, I've struggled a lot with the concept of working for pay and only recently could I really begin to explain why. Some people would probably call it 'entitlement', but I'm not really sure that's an accurate description. As an employee, your role is essentially a permanent state of brown nosing. First of all you must convince a rich person/company that you are worthy. Then you must convince them…
I know exactly what you mean. But that's the system we live in, isn't it? One must sell one's time And one's soul to survive. What's the way out?
And then understand that money is nothing but frozen time and productivity. It's among the most glorious of inventions. I can work my ass off when I'm young and able to stand it, freeze that effort via money, and then expend that value when I'm 73 and no longer able to work. Absolutely brilliant.
There is no escape from having to possess something to trade (skill, time, money, objects of value, etc) in order to feed yourself or have shelter, or have clothing. Stop torturing yourself by wishing there was.
The only choice you have, is how you burn your time. You can be a 9 to 5 low wage worker; you can be a 9 to 5 high wage worker. You can be an entrepreneur. You can try to lead a basic life as a farmer. You can get rich, and then spend your remaining time doing whatever you want with that vast sum of frozen productivity.
Getting paid for it is difficult. Arguably one has to become extremely good at a particular skill which is in demand and be able to promote himself.