= 27d567bc2d48d9f40e9ccc20ea370b15)
Karmakaiser comments on Might I ask for some advice? - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
= 783df68a0f980790206b9ea87794c5b6)
Loading…= b715d02e85f7b3b4ae65ca3d3e450868)
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Powered by Reddit
= f037147d6e6c911a85753b9abdedda8d)
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (23)
Facts that need to be cleared first: (1) you are 22, (2) "passion" is a meme imported from the tech industry.
You shouldn't have a sense of direction at 22. If you do, you're doing it wrong; it means forswearing experimentation, which is a huge net positive endeavor at that age.
People usually develop a sense of direction because of path dependence. Since you are not in a professional major, dependence is weak. The down economy, with its ebb of opportunity and grim signals, worsens any confusion. If you feel you are even more confused than you should be, that's probably the reason.
The passion thing is just what techies talk about to thump their chests. It means whatever the speaker needs it to, just ignore it.
I wasn't aware that the meme that one should "do what you love" came from the tech boom. I was given to understand by Alain de Botton (I believe in his TED talk) that this idea orginiated in France among the upper class at the same time that life long romantic love began to become a thing. Is he wrong, or is it that the tech boom allowed the lower and middle classes to buy into this idea that passion can be economic sustaining?
It seems to me that Silicon Valley hijacked "passion". One of the things they want it to do is prevent people from perceiving them as the robber barons of the 21st Century by giving the impression that they founded technology companies to follow their personal passion rather than to make obscene amounts of money with IP assets. Not that there is anything wrong with doing that, I wish I had.
No, he's probably not wrong but he's also not relevant. The OP probably isn't importing the meme directly from 19th century France. In the US, you import the meme from two general sources: hippies or the tech industry. Given the author's own description of his life, the tech industry seems most likely.
But who knows: maybe he's a meme hipster and only imports French originals?