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You are not running out of time

rahulbijlani.com

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Re: You are not running out of time

#11

Post by john_b »

reasonattlm wrote: post #2

Beg to differ. I'd say that if you're not feeling pressed, that you have too little time left, then you don't have anywhere near an adequate view of the plausible future. A golden age lies ahead, of glittering marvels to make all that has come so far pale to insignificance. But unless we step up to the plate and master biotechnology a lot faster and better than is presently managed, all of us reading this now will mi…

I think you missed the author's point. The article wasn't about gaining more (or infinite) time. It was about maximizing your joy in life by living in such a way that you can be proud of your accomplishments without being overwhelmed by the need to continually out-do yourself or others. How long you live is completely irrelevant to that point. And if you are not enjoying your life because you're feeling so pressed and anxious, then living forever won't change that--that's a mentality problem.

Not to mention the disappointment you might feel if you die before the onset of the much hyped biotech revolution, having placed your hopes for happiness in its arrival.

Re: You are not running out of time

#12

Post by uast23 »

reasonattlm wrote: post #2

Beg to differ. I'd say that if you're not feeling pressed, that you have too little time left, then you don't have anywhere near an adequate view of the plausible future. A golden age lies ahead, of glittering marvels to make all that has come so far pale to insignificance. But unless we step up to the plate and master biotechnology a lot faster and better than is presently managed, all of us reading this now will mi…

Just for your first line, feeling pressed is different from feeling depressed, and I think that the article is referring to "feeling depressed". It is more or less trying to convey the same message as yours which conveys doing something instead of sitting idle. It's just that you want to get things done in a hurry. See the analogies to believe - Gordon Gekko, Bill Gates.

Re: You are not running out of time

#14

Post by Aqwis »

[deleted] wrote: post #4

[deleted]

Somewhat off-topic, but this struck me as an incredibly American comment. The idea that it's getting "too late" to achieve "impressive success" or whatever you call it before you have even finished your university education -- or even high school, that is. None of the richest men (counting the more-or-less self-made men) in my country seem to have achieved any success until they were well into their 20s.

Re: You are not running out of time

#18

Post by equalarrow »

This essay is definitely something to keep in mind, albeit it's probably easier in theory than practice.

I'm probably a little older than most of the Y crowd. I've worked at a few very successful startups - pre and post dot com. For one of them, which changed the travel industry, I was literally one of the first people to put down code and my own stab at defining their architecture - I was there before there were any formal employees.

But now, I have a kid on the way, never really made millions (sorta got close), can't seem to find that 'magic' again, and there is definitely that notion that time is fleeting. Over the past decade I studied a lot of philosophy - mostly buddhist and hindu. I meditated, quieted my mind, enjoyed my moments, and felt very peaceful while the world flew by. I dropped out of working for a year to learn how to write electronic music (played music my whole life, got pretty good at the electronic stuff) - this was probably the happiest I'd been in a long time and I 100% did live day to day, creating, constantly getting better.

Lately over the past few years though, life's changed. The thought that I am getting closer to getting older and starting a family adds additional pressure. It seems much simpler when you're by yourself - which is why monks follow that route. Ultimately, we make the decisions we make and we have to learn from them.

As someone who's been programming most of my life, loves technology, and still appreciates the latest and greatest, I'm still drawn to it. At this point, I can see how things should work and feel like I really appreciate things that are designed well. However, there's only so much time in the day and I don't really crank on code for 10+ hours anymore. I keep thinking that I can compete with a lot of people for tech knowhow, but maybe my real potential is to pass all this on to the next generation.

I'm sure that I've been more fortunate that a lot of people on this rock, but I still don't feel I've felt that success I've wanted and, yah, it does feel like time is running out.

Re: You are not running out of time

#19

Post by mechanical_fish »

a3_nm wrote: post #7

> what do I want to see grow? What do I want to build? The problem is that in the vast majority of cases, unless you managed to build something successful by the time you die, then your work will die with you and nobody will care. The article makes the tempting assumption that progress is monotonic, and that the work that you do will eventually find its use. I don't think this is right -- the vast majority of stuff e…

your work will die with you and nobody will care

You should care, while you are alive. Whether your successors care or not is optional, and frankly is their problem, not yours.

There are many recorded instances of work that was generally ignored by the creator's immediate successors - or even by contemporaries - but was eventually appreciated decades, even centuries later. Classic examples: Bach's fugues went terribly out of fashion even during his lifetime; Shakespeare's biography is obscure mainly because his works went through a period of obscurity; Mendel published his work to no acclaim whatsoever, went on to have a completely different non-science career, and died before other scientists (two of them simultaneously!) discovered his work. Johannes Vermeer, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson...

Other artists were hailed as legends during their lifetime and then promptly forgotten. Maybe they will remain forgotten. More likely some will be rediscovered next year or next century. Make what you want to make. Let the future take care of itself. It probably won't listen to you anyway.

Re: You are not running out of time

#20

Post by Hyena »

uast23 wrote: post #13
[deleted] wrote: post #4

[deleted]

Since you talked about accomplishing a decent company, here is the argument - http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/28/peak-age-entrepreneurship/

I remember when that issue was a current topic. I kept thinking that the "peak founding age" had been pushed low by the generation gap between people born before-and-after ~1980. The fact is that there would be relatively few technology start-ups being founded by older people since the skill set was much more rare for them. But from 1980 on, I'd think that it is much better represented in the population.
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