WhatShouldIDoWithMyLife

ThoughtStorms Wiki

PaulGrahamOnGreatWork
YouHaveToEarnALiving
Unemployed blogger : http://wherethehelldidmyjobgo.blogspot.com/
SlashDot on being too old to program

BillSeitz:MeaningOfLife which he ought to link to BillSeitz:MakingALiving

Quora Answer : What would be the purpose of mankind if we reach an advanced, scientific age when we can synthesize our own food directly from sunlight?

Jun 17, 2014

You've never listened to music? Played in a band? Painted or appreciated a picture? Hiked through the wilderness? Gone swimming in a clean river? Played with a pet? Had a love affair? Tried delta-wing / hang-gliding? Or snorkling? Spent an evening in philosophical debate over a couple of bottles of wine? Read a comic? Visited a comic-convention and dressed up in funny clothes? Acted in a theatrical production? Planned, planted and grown a garden? Made a sculpture out of clothspegs? Wrote a computer program because it was fun? Learned a new language to talk with people from another culture? Learned to dance Bollywood? Visited the pyramids? Or the Aztec pyramids? Or invented a secret code? Thrown Mentos in Coke or played with chemistry? Used a lathe to turn a beautiful piece of wood? Spent a day in a hide photographing birds? Recited poetry loudly on a street corner in Buenos Aires at 3AM? Tried "Parkour"? Or yoga? Or chess-boxing? Held a party? Helped restore a classic steam-engine? Trained a dog? ...

OK, I connected them. But not to MarkAlbion, because I'm annoyed with people who say "I searched for the perfect career, and then found that it was helping other people find the perfect career." Kinda like "I can't achieve an orgasm, but it turns me on to advise other people on who to do so."

–BillSeitz

("Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, become guidance counselors.")

Agree, on both counts. Though maybe there's a more positive spin on the "those that can't, teach". Because, possibly the can-doers also can't teach. So there's a symmetric inability to get onto each other's turf.

– PhilJones

Actually there's an interesting dynamic to these and PoBronson's stories. "I was a big success, but I wasn't happy so I had to take the big risk to be myself and find what I really wanted in life. I had my failures, some near disasters, but eventually I found what I really wanted."

It's a particularly US form of literature. We don't have it in the UK. (And I suspect the rest of the world. Maybe compare AmericanExistentialism)

Self 2.0 : http://dirtsimple.org/2005/10/self-version-20.html

AaronSchwartz on whether to be a coder or a writer : http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/nonapology (and see ProgrammersAndWriters)

How do I turn my life-style into a business?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/magazine/30brand.html