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I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

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Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#111

Post by RevRal »

You need something to propel you forward. Declaring that you're brilliant after you accomplish something is sometimes fun, but feeling that you're brilliant 24/7 is like putting a brick wall in front of you.

People don't often realize that most experiences, and feelings, are common; but, it is the lack of skill to communicate that makes us feel lonely.

I say, learn to communicate well. And be around people who know how to communicate well. I think this is very important to a person's happiness. Especially people who are, indeed, above average -- perhaps even for their sanity.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#112

Post by caffeine »

Dear Tired and Lost,

Welcome to your life. You are the latest man in a chain many thousands of years long to wake from his deep sleep and discover that he is incomplete without a purpose.

First, the bad news: the pain won't go away by itself. It will get worse, like a constant implosion dissolving your heart from within. During sex and danger the pain may abate - and then come back, strong as before. Be warned, though; ignored for too long, the pain can numb. Then your purpose has abandoned you, and you are lost.

The good news: if you find your purpose and live it, the pain will go away. As I said, you are the latest inheritor of this burden - many have walked this road before you. They have left you way markers - the world's great spiritual traditions - to help you find your path.

You must open yourself profoundly to the world around you. Find a teacher, meditate deeply, question incessantly. Test yourself at every opportunity. Find your true purpose, and give yourself completely. Do so, and you may be enlightened, suffused with joy at the wonders that have always surrounded you. Fail, and die an anonymous end to a vacant life.

Happy hunting.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#113

Post by zackattack »

potatolicious wrote: post #80
bitwize wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paul Erdős never married or had kids; that biological fact alone is thought to account for his prolific mathematical output (and why we have an Erdős number).

But what if I want to marry/have kids, and don't give a hoot about my mathematical output? Whatever makes people happy eh? Not everyone needs to be an Einstein.

You're being defensive. All he said was that Erdös had high output and it was postulated to be related to his lack of family life. Nobody here is making value judgments about a prescribed good life.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#115

Post by _pius »

jseliger wrote: post #108
techiferous wrote: post #32

This kid's real problem is [insert projection here].

[if you think you're brilliant, you're probably not. The most brilliant people I know tend not to think of themselves in terms of brilliance.]

In fairness, the kid didn't actually call himself brilliant.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#116

Post by joeythibault »

shpxnvz wrote: post #55
joeythibault wrote: post #24

Cary should have saved his time and just said "join the navy". I'm not advocating military service. But if this student doesn't want to stay where he is, doesn't know what he wants to do and doesn't have the means to relocate, it's probably the most stable situation to let him think about his/her own future. Just saying... 3 years on a boat or sub and he'll know EXACTLY what he wants to do (and will have a lot more m…

he'll know EXACTLY what he wants to do I think it is more likely that after three years he'll know exactly what he doesn't want to do.

hahaha. touche.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#117

Post by ax0n »

joe_the_user wrote: post #16
ax0n wrote: post #9

At least he recognizes he's lost now, when there's plenty of time ahead to fix it. A lot of people won't see it for another 30 years.

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

I'll agree. Many labels are worthless used in reference to one's self. "Brilliant" and "Hacker" among the big ones. They don't really mean anything until someone else recognizes it in you. IMHO, it takes a genuine hacker (acknowledged as such by peers) calling someone else a hacker to make it count. I would say the same applies to "brilliant."

While it might do wonders for one's self-esteem, being called "brilliant" by high school teachers doesn't impress me much. In contrast: If Brian Eno says someone is brilliant, I am quite likely to take his word for it.

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#118

Post by wallflower »

bmj wrote: post #26
dschobel wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To quote the famous (unfortunately hoax) Vonnegut speech: Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

On the other hand, we have John Milton lamenting his 23rd birthday ( http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/sonnet7.htm ): HOW soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossom sheweth. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, That I to manhood am arrived so near, And inward ripeness doth muc…

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

Henry David Thoreau

Re: I'm 20, brilliant and totally lost

#119

Post by mkramlich »

bitwize wrote: post #77
soundphed wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your analogy falls short at the end there... A teenage girl bragging about her fashion sense or poetic style does not directly equate to the statement 'I want to make video games'. Unless, of course, you are implying that anyone who makes that statement has already tried and failed at creating successful video games and are now doomed and hopeless before they even hit the campus floor (as I am assuming that teenage g…

I'm 32. I still want to make videogames but I don't want to work for Shit-A. I want to hole up in a log cabin somewhere and code till my eyes ache. Like Jeff Minter. (I seem to recall a comment from John Carmack along similar lines when he wanted to try a rendering technique: something like "I did what I normally do. I locked myself in a hotel room for three days and coded it up.") Oh well. Until I have that log cabi…

I want a robot submarine. That runs Linux. That I can script in Python. Would your day job by any chance involve making/selling those? :)
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