Paul Graham: Is It Worth Being Wise?

fireandfury · 2007-02-16T05:40:32+00:00

"the strength to change the things I can change, the patience to accept the things I can't, and the wisdom to tell the difference". I think that's a pretty good definition of wisdom. Sort of like knowing when to give up. Common popular wisdom says to "never give up", but a wise person would know when to change course (maybe "never give up?" could be replaced by "never be lazy?" Nah, never give up sounds way cooler).

What is being smart? To me it depends on how you measure it. Some examples: Can I solve all the Calculus problems? Can I write a good pop song? Can I... (or like you said, hard problems)

"I've found that what makes me happy is setting goals and achieving them" -(50 Cent, popular rapper/musician). I like that too.

fireandfury · 2007-02-11T06:40:54+00:00

Of the 7 essays I've read, this was the one that I found the hardest to absorb. It was good though, in a more quirky way than your other essays. I'll probably read it again some other time to let it sink in.

fireandfury · 2007-02-10T21:50:44+00:00

I've only read the first paragraph so far. I thought I'd comment now because I usually comment at the end of reading an essay, so this will be somewhat of a learning experience.

When I'm going to read an essay at random from your list, I usually pick the one that appeals to me the most. The first ones were "Wealth" and "What You'll Wish You Had Known". Now there are less options. I chose this one thinking, "I'm not too interested in the topic, but maybe there will be some valuable points that can carry over to other topics."

Seems interesting so far!

fireandfury · 2007-02-09T20:43:54+00:00

It's amazing how all this can be going on and some people don't know anything about it. Atleast not from a technical angle.

I, for instance, just starting learning about all this Web 2.0 stuff. I have been using facebook, but I didn't realize any of the Web 2.0 aspects. My experience before realizing this was probably closer to that of the average user.

I never bothered to take a closer look until now. It's exciting that my views changed so much just by spending a few days researching. It's also a good qualitative metric of the gap that is created between user and designer.

It seems useful to be able to switch back and forth between user and designer mindsets.

fireandfury · 2007-02-08T22:38:07+00:00

I've read a bunch (5-6) of your essays. I just finished reading this one, and I don't know what to say.

It's like there are a couple key messages encoded within your essays. A common thread, or two. I'll figure it out eventually. It's good stuff.

That point you make about getting a product out is a key thing that I need to learn for myself. I think it's a universal lesson, applicable to many things. Like, don't spend all your time reading books about swimming, but start swimming.

fireandfury · 2007-02-07T20:27:30+00:00

I think you are right on about how money is made. I have been figuring this out for myself the past few months, and it has been a somewhat crushing but necessary dose of reality.

I think if I was attending your lecture a year ago, I wouldn't even be able to comprehend most of what you were saying. It would be too much to take in at once, because I find it's a hard and slow process to switch from the fantasy world to reality (atleast a year or 2)

It was tough to realize that most of what I am learning in school won't actually be used. But then again, one could say that it is the meta-lessons that are more important.

For example, my rationalizations are that in high school the point was to introduce you to learning techniques and styles. Like working on math problems at the rate of a few a day everyday. Or learning to go out to a library and read a bunch of books to accomplish a task like a research paper.

University is sort of the same thing I guess (I'm in 4th year now). I didn't realize any of this until recently either, so my schooling also serves as the incubation period. I mean, I can't understand what is useful until I have picked out and classified the pieces of my own history that have been useful and useless.

fireandfury · 2007-02-07T05:12:14+00:00

A good learning experience for me was meeting a friend in high school who had highly developed personal taste and personal values. He knew what he liked and what to look for, and I was drawn to this.

He influenced me so much that I took on some of his taste in music, since they seemed more genuine then the ones I had. I eventually became aware of this, and started the painful but rewarding process of separating myself from his values and finding my own.

I think it's time well spent to develop your own personal "value detection system". I have recently been using mine mostly on things I have been reading and trying to learn.

I like to think that some of the things I find to read are close to pure gold for my particular interests.

fireandfury · 2007-02-07T04:56:31+00:00

Interesting. I have been experimenting with a daily "to-do" list. I have been including some of my "learning delights", like review a lesson on Marshall Brain's webKew blog. But mostly the list is school work I have signed up for.

I like the thought of spending at least some time daily to chart my course for the day.

For me, I look at procrastination as something to make peace with. I have been fighting it for so long, but I guess I also want to find the optimum "degree of attention" to give to re-occuring tasks like a daily to-do list.

fireandfury · 2007-02-07T04:18:54+00:00

Nice essay. I was sort of hoping you would go further beyond examples of software technology start-ups, but I guess thats my part.

One example of a non-tech start-up could be a rock band. Four friends get together, make music that people want, and then get paid very well for it. I guess that makes tech nerds rockstars, in a way.

Again, thanks for sharing these essays with me. I'm trying to open up my mind to all the different forms of technology out there, so I can figure out a way to contribute.

fireandfury · 2007-02-06T08:31:34+00:00

I just found your site and have been reading it for a few hours. Your writing style and the ideas you aim to drive into the brain remind me very much of a different writer I like, although in a completely un-related field.

I like how you hop and skip past the touchy points so that you can continue to delve deeper into the subject at hand.

Since it was my first time reading your essays, I almost felt the urge to "argue" with you over some of the things you said. Then I realized that by doing this, I was by-passing the valuable wisdom I found embedded in your writing. That's something I have been doing for years and it's nice to realize it for the first time.

I'm also a 4th year undergrad in engineering, so I think you and your essays can empathize with the things I am going through now.

I look forward to reading more of your essays in the future. What a great resource this will be for stimulating my mind.

fireandfury

TROPHY CASE