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I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

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Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#61

Post by nostrademons »

pg wrote: post #50
req2 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 23 year old in the 17th century would expect to live nearly as long as a 23 year old today- the depressed life expectancy statistics are largely due to the fact that 3 out of 4 children died before they hit the age of five. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy

What you say about life expectancy at birth is true, but it's also true that people who made it to adulthood didn't live nearly as long. I'd guess the average life expectancy of a 23 year old in 17th century England was under 60.

You don't have to guess if you're willing to move a little forward in time:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html

So the average 20 year old in 1850 could expect to live an additional 40 years, to roughly age 60. The curve started flattening after WW1 and continued doing so until around the 70s and 80s.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#64

Post by nostrademons »

SamAtt wrote: post #27

I honestly thought this was terrible advice. The problem this kid has is everyone has praised him seemingly since birth and so he thinks everything is simple. The mere fact that one teacher saying his dream was silly could throw his life into chaos shows he's underprepared for the world. In fact, the only reason he seems to feel lost is because he doesn't stick with anything beyond the initial thrill. Rather than nar…

The majority of startups also don't stick with anything beyond the initial thrill. That's something you have to learn for yourself: no external organization is going to hand it to you.

When I started actually completing projects (and I was older than this guy is), it was largely because I'd tried a bunch of things in superficial depth and found that they weren't all that satisfying. I bounced from a physics major to philosophy to sociology back to physics and finally ended up with a CS degree. I tried out orchestra and guitar and bass and taiko and sailing and fanfiction and sci-fi/fantasy and programming as hobbies. I "learned" dozens of programming languages by website & academic paper before actually settling down to write some code. I needed that experience to figure out for myself what I really considered important and was willing to put the time into learning well.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#65

Post by zackattack »

clistctrl wrote: post #18

The women did it to him, I've said it before, and i'm going to say it again. If you want to be king of productivity, avoid girls.

Stop downvoting him. Sublimated sex drive is an incredibly powerful force, and drives thousands of people to take up positions in society (doctor, lawyer, programmer) instead of wandering the earth, content with food and drink.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#66

Post by xcombinator »

I think one can't say to himself he is brilliant, this is so dangerous.

My father tells me how much surprised it is when he sees back their school mates,now that he is retired, they expected the brilliant people in class to success.

This is what really happened:

The brilliant people(3 hipersmart guys) took a normal job and lived a normal live. People that had enormous problems in school, became presidents of big companies, made their own restaurants chains,got political power, became famous as scientific researchers...

Wow: Nobody would have expected that!!

I think those brilliant people were very good at learning and memorizing when the answer is known, but not so good facing risk and failure, fighting against unknown.

PS: There was a time I got 10 over 10 score in some exams like math when a lot of people didn't pass. I felt great(and superior) about being considered intelligent, but at the same I felt frightened about losing my position, so I stooped asking stupid questions (what would they think about me).

Later I discovered I love asking stupid questions, and I love testing new things, often it goes bad, so I felt liberated making enough grades and not being ultrasmart, but feeling this stupid man can kick some smart asses if I work hard.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#67

Post by nostrademons »

raintrees wrote: post #53
sokoloff wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The disaster of that plan is you may very well figure it out 3 months in, and then have a multi-year effectively prison sentence to serve out. I have deep respect for those who do serve. I just don't think that recommending it as some kind of default "until you figure it out" is remotely a good idea.

But when it really comes down to it, isn't almost anything a good thing to do "until you figure it out?" The lessons we learn are to be found everywhere. Hindsight makes me laugh at how so many of my "lessons" were around me at all times, in even the most mundane things! I keep forgetting that for me, it's all about the journey, not the destination.

I'd say it's much better to do things you can get out of "until you figure it out", because figuring it out often requires going down many blind alleys, and it's nice to be able to turn around and go back if you don't like one.

If I had to give advice to struggling young college grads who don't yet know what they want to do with their life, it'd be take a job. Any job, though you should preference ones that will expose you to new ideas and talented people. Go as far as you can with it, then if it's not working out, take another job. Repeat until you have a fair picture of what the working world is like, then start a company. It'll fail (first startups always do), but by then you should have a good idea of what you really want to do, so you can take the job that will most help you achieve that, and start another company a few years down the road.

Unfortunately, most directionless people either go to grad school or join the military, which are about the two worst things you can do. Because both are fairly hard to get out of, and if you find out 3 months in that it's not what you really want, the time spent in them is basically a big sunk cost.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#68

Post by joe_the_user »

unalone wrote: post #40
joe_the_user wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, but he also "recognizes" that he's brilliant, the two realization should exactly cancel each other out...

Brilliance isn't particularly difficult. A lot more people could be brilliant than are brilliant now, if they only put a little work into it.

Agreed but someone who "recognizes" themselves as brilliant is someone who is thinking of their brilliance as something defining and unique - ie, they are exactly the people who don't understand the potential in everyone.

I'd further mention that many people unconsciously choose to not be brilliant because this allows them to fit in.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#69

Post by doki_pen »

bfung wrote: post #51
joe_the_user wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, but he also "recognizes" that he's brilliant, the two realization should exactly cancel each other out...

Totally agree. Being academically successful is one thing while leading the life you want is another. Most average people figure out how they fit in our social order ok. I think the appropriate quip would be "Welcome to the real world, now get off my lawn!" Move on, nothing new here.

He's got a step on me. I was academically unsuccessful and thought I was brilliant. But the truth is whether you are brilliant or not is meaningless. Only how hard you try really matters.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#70

Post by req2 »

nostrademons wrote: post #61
pg wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you say about life expectancy at birth is true, but it's also true that people who made it to adulthood didn't live nearly as long. I'd guess the average life expectancy of a 23 year old in 17th century England was under 60.

You don't have to guess if you're willing to move a little forward in time: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html So the average 20 year old in 1850 could expect to live an additional 40 years, to roughly age 60. The curve started flattening after WW1 and continued doing so until around the 70s and 80s.

Rome wasn't much worse off- a 20 year old would expect to hit 54.

Here's hoping for the hockey stick.

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/Life.html

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