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I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

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Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#91

Post by jimmyrcom »

unalone wrote: post #85
jimmyrcom wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not insulting them, it's looking at them as if they're naive because they don't know half the other guys or girls also secretly want to be the some thing. I have yet to meet anyone that's become a poet as a career choice. It doesn't pay. Only a handful of those girls ever become fashion designers. It's like looking at a little kid saying I want to be a policeman, fireman or doctor. All the little kids at 5 years…

Well, I don't know the author, but from what he wrote I don't think there's too much blame-throwing going on. What I do know is that it's wrong to smirk at somebody who tells you what they want, or to flat-out tell them they're wrong without backing yourself up. Sure, you have a right to tell somebody their life is meaningless if they aren't saving lives, but it's a dick move to do so and all it does it hurt.

the hell are you talking about? It's fine to smirk at a kid he says something like I'm going to be an astronaut, cause it's cute. maybe you don't know what a smirk is. I used a different example for the professor, don't mix and match sentences to try and improve your point. People's advice is people's advice, if you want to hang them over the fire for it if they don't tell you what you want to hear then you're an idiot. If someone says, 'If I had your intelligence I would have became a doctor or tried to change the world', that's a compliment. The 'you should' in the statement of advice usually comes from the position of 'if I were in your shoes'.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#92

Post by joe_the_user »

morphir wrote: post #73

I think this article roots to the kids narcissism - just because you have an high IQ, does not mean you will become somewhat more important, more powerful or more successful than "Joe the plumber". Let me ask you this: Was Godel happy? Was Alan Turing happy? Even though they both were brilliant and had academic success, still - their personal lives was pretty much a sad state of affairs, and depression characterized…

Well, "Joe The Plummer" wasn't a plummer and wasn't named Joe but he was still more successful as a media sensation than this kid has been so far.

Still, I think you put a finger on the Kid's narcissism. But consider, we're getting closer to a society where being well-thought-of in High School really seems like as good a guide for your chances of becoming a billionaire as anything.

I mean, Sara Palin resigns as governor of Alaska because being a manager is kind-of a hassle but still seems to be taken seriously as a potential president. Now it's starting to make sense...

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#94

Post by skinnymuch »

xcombinator wrote: post #66

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 comp…

"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..."

I doubt this very much.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#95

Post by aplusbi »

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.

>But when it really comes down to it, isn't almost anything a good thing to do "until you figure it out?"

In this case, no. Almost anything that doesn't have a predetermined length of service is a good thing t do "until you figure it out."

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#96

Post by skinnymuch »

rads wrote: post #90
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.

If you want to be king of productivity, avoid anything other than work and feel empty inside.

Until hardcore depression sets in.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#98

Post by nostrademons »

raintrees wrote: post #89
nostrademons wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 exp…

What about the lesson learned from commitment? That promises that have strings attached are important enough to require longer than normal consideration? Although it could very well be considered a school of hard knocks, learning about x Year commitments at a younger age may help tremendously for same or larger commitments later in life (starting companies, buying a house, committing to a relationship, etc.). If I ch…

I think the lesson learned from commitment is very important, but I'm not sure that many 22-year-olds are in a position to learn that lesson.

The most valuable lesson I learned in college was in sticking it out and getting my degree even after it became apparent that I'd royally screwed things up and the administration was not going to let me graduate. However, had that lesson come a semester earlier, I would've said "To hell with it" and dropped out, 3.5 years and $100K sunk cost be damned. In fact, I did have a chance to learn that lesson 2 years prior, the first time I failed a physics course and considered dropping the major (and dropping out), and obviously didn't then.

For every person who emerges with their military service or Ph.D saying "It made me a stronger person," there're a bunch more that say "The government fucked me over" or "My liberal arts education made me utterly unemployable" or "I guess I'm just not cut out to be a researcher." You just don't hear about them, or when you do, you say "It's their own damn fault for not following through."

The same goes for military leaders who cut off their own forces' ability to retreat. You hear about the ones where glorious victories were achieved against all odds. You don't hear about the ones where the forces were slaughtered down to a man for nothing. (Or occasionally you do, and point and laugh at their arrogance, eg. Custer's Last Stand.)

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#100

Post by zackattack »

giardini wrote: post #75
zackattack wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Is sexual sublimation considered a valid psychological concept these days? Isn't this part of Freud's theories and isn't most of that considered defunct?

You need to stop treating things you read as dogma and start critically evaluating them.
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