> The idea that one should ask questions about one's own life (e.g. your "What seems like work...?") and act on the answers was completely alien to me in those days, and I doubt I could have absorbed any wisdom in this department.
That resonates deeply with me. Until my early 20s, I was terrible at absorbing any form of wisdom from anyone. I just went ahead forward into whatever interested me, with no regard for what anyone would have to say about it. I was fortunate enough to be born with a brain that worked fairly well and allowed me to get away with this behavior for the longest time.
It is for this reason that I consider my time in grad school as mostly a failure - I joined at 19 as a PhD student and left 2 years later with a Master's degree, leaving the PhD for startups, and in those 2 years I didn't achieve anything that I'd consider interesting work (completely by my own fault). Even worse, my immaturity resulted in me making very little of the absolutely brilliant advisor I had (the perfect combo: a researcher whose early work pioneered a new field and gave him enormous peer recognition, but who was still early enough in his career that he had plenty of time to devote to his students), who had high hopes for me that ended up completely unfulfilled.
It was only after a few years of working in the real world with some very smart (and some very dumb) people, getting yelled at, seeing friends get fired (I never got fired myself although I came close a few times), and a few other similar experiences that I realized that indeed my life would be much improved if I stopped and recognized that some people do have words of wisdom that hold value for me. Psychedelics and traveling the world+meeting people who had it way worse than me yet achieved way more with what they had also contributed significantly to my maturing - the rewards of it being that I now am starting to enjoy an amount of success, clarity, and reward in my work that would have been unconceivable 6 years ago (although it still feels like most of the road is ahead, as it should).
For those reasons, it feels like advice such as the one given by PG is lost: the people who need it most won't really get the importance of what he means, and the people who will get it can do so because they've already internalized it.
All that being said, I look forward to 5 years from now, when I will say things about my mid-20s similar to what I just said about my early 20s :)
I agree that most of the time, advice is lost. But I don't think it's because people don't get the importance of the advice, but rather because they don't recognize when the advice could have applied in the heat of the moment (even for advice that's not about split-second decision, during the time frame when it could have applied, we just don't realized it).
I remember knowing about "don't let your emotion control your action, especially when you're angry". I don't think anyone would disagree or disregard the advice, the problem is that when we're feeling angry, we don't necessary think we're angry, we just feel being right. Since I've realized that, I've to stop myself whenever I'm feeling strongly right about something, not when I'm feeling angry (though they are really the same emotion most of the time).
In a sense, it's actually not that surprising, since advice is given from a perspective of an third person outsider: I'm seeing you doing Y given the circumstances X, so I'm giving you the advice of not doing Y when X happens. But from my someone who X happens to, it's really Z to them from their perspectives, and so they don't recognize it as X. That applies even if you're looking back at your action in the past too.
My friend's mental health was seriously and irreversibly damaged by a one time adventure with psychedelics... Apparenty, non-negligible (over 1%?) portion of the population reacts this way.
I know a kid whose throat swelled up, couldn't breathe for several minutes, and suffered brain damage after a one time incident of eating peanuts... Apparently, non-negligible (over 1% [1]) portion of the population reacts this way.
It depends on how much risk averse you are - I know that, for me, trying out psychedelics is not worth the 1% risk of going into psychotic breakdown, being admitted to psychiatric ward or even messing myself up permanently. For others it might be worth it.
For those reasons, it feels like advice such as the one given by PG is lost: the people who need it most won't really get the importance of what he means, and the people who will get it can do so because they've already internalized it.
Indeed. If life came with a manual, then people would still say: who needs manuals? :)
Comments
> The idea that one should ask questions about one's own life (e.g. your "What seems like work...?") and act on the answers was completely alien to me in those days, and I doubt I could have absorbed any wisdom in this department.
That resonates deeply with me. Until my early 20s, I was terrible at absorbing any form of wisdom from anyone. I just went ahead forward into whatever interested me, with no regard for what anyone would have to say about it. I was fortunate enough to be born with a brain that worked fairly well and allowed me to get away with this behavior for the longest time.
It is for this reason that I consider my time in grad school as mostly a failure - I joined at 19 as a PhD student and left 2 years later with a Master's degree, leaving the PhD for startups, and in those 2 years I didn't achieve anything that I'd consider interesting work (completely by my own fault). Even worse, my immaturity resulted in me making very little of the absolutely brilliant advisor I had (the perfect combo: a researcher whose early work pioneered a new field and gave him enormous peer recognition, but who was still early enough in his career that he had plenty of time to devote to his students), who had high hopes for me that ended up completely unfulfilled.
It was only after a few years of working in the real world with some very smart (and some very dumb) people, getting yelled at, seeing friends get fired (I never got fired myself although I came close a few times), and a few other similar experiences that I realized that indeed my life would be much improved if I stopped and recognized that some people do have words of wisdom that hold value for me. Psychedelics and traveling the world+meeting people who had it way worse than me yet achieved way more with what they had also contributed significantly to my maturing - the rewards of it being that I now am starting to enjoy an amount of success, clarity, and reward in my work that would have been unconceivable 6 years ago (although it still feels like most of the road is ahead, as it should).
For those reasons, it feels like advice such as the one given by PG is lost: the people who need it most won't really get the importance of what he means, and the people who will get it can do so because they've already internalized it.
All that being said, I look forward to 5 years from now, when I will say things about my mid-20s similar to what I just said about my early 20s :)
I agree that most of the time, advice is lost. But I don't think it's because people don't get the importance of the advice, but rather because they don't recognize when the advice could have applied in the heat of the moment (even for advice that's not about split-second decision, during the time frame when it could have applied, we just don't realized it).
I remember knowing about "don't let your emotion control your action, especially when you're angry". I don't think anyone would disagree or disregard the advice, the problem is that when we're feeling angry, we don't necessary think we're angry, we just feel being right. Since I've realized that, I've to stop myself whenever I'm feeling strongly right about something, not when I'm feeling angry (though they are really the same emotion most of the time).
In a sense, it's actually not that surprising, since advice is given from a perspective of an third person outsider: I'm seeing you doing Y given the circumstances X, so I'm giving you the advice of not doing Y when X happens. But from my someone who X happens to, it's really Z to them from their perspectives, and so they don't recognize it as X. That applies even if you're looking back at your action in the past too.
Introspection is really hard.
I advice you to stay away from the psychedelics. Trust me, this is an advice you can't afford not to believe until it is too late.
You've clearly been burned. That's fine, but tell us your story rather than giving some vague advice devoid of context.
My friend's mental health was seriously and irreversibly damaged by a one time adventure with psychedelics... Apparenty, non-negligible (over 1%?) portion of the population reacts this way.
I know a kid whose throat swelled up, couldn't breathe for several minutes, and suffered brain damage after a one time incident of eating peanuts... Apparently, non-negligible (over 1% [1]) portion of the population reacts this way.
Lesson for everybody: Don't eat nuts!
[1] http://www.mountsinai.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/r...
Your argument against psychedelics is not persuasive in the manner presented.
It depends on how much risk averse you are - I know that, for me, trying out psychedelics is not worth the 1% risk of going into psychotic breakdown, being admitted to psychiatric ward or even messing myself up permanently. For others it might be worth it.
Not everyone freaks out
Indeed. If life came with a manual, then people would still say: who needs manuals? :)