A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do (1993)

Re:A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do ... by amelius on Monday August 21, 2017 @05:10PM (#15067878)

> Under these circumstances it seems better to live a life in which you do important things (important in your eyes, of course) than to merely live out your life. No sense frittering away your life on things that will not even appear in the footnotes.

I'm curious what people on HN would consider "important things".

Is it writing the next generation of social media tools? Is it making nuclear fusion practical? Is it finding a smart business model and making a lot of money from it?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do ... by Danihan on Monday August 21, 2017 @05:34PM (#15068044)

The reality is that none of us know whether what we're doing will be important, or to what extent.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do ... by amelius on Monday August 21, 2017 @06:57PM (#15068492)

Yes, but we can make some educated guesses.

For instance, what "good" has Facebook brought us so far? After we have determined this, is it not reasonable to extrapolate a little into the future? Also, entertainment is not unimportant, but everyone would agree it certainly does not belong anywhere near the top of the list, yet I see a lot of effort going in that direction lately, also on HN. It seems out of balance if you ask me.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do ... by Danihan on Monday August 21, 2017 @07:14PM (#15068571)

I am not a Facebook fan, but it was successful at connecting communications around the world and increasing overall adoption of the the internet.

I truly mean it, it's an unanswerable question, educated guesses or not. Too subjective.

For instance... is it better for Earth to have 1 Billion people on it, or is it better to have 25 Billion? If a "tragic" disaster drastically reduced the population levels for 100 years, but also allowed our species to evolve at a more sustainable pace in the long-term, was the disaster good or bad?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do ... by Anonymous9761 on Tuesday August 22, 2017 @01:38AM (#15069992)

The disaster would be good for the species, but bad for individuals. The species is more important than any number of individuals, so such a disaster would be of net benefit.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do ... by segmondy on Tuesday August 22, 2017 @12:15PM (#15073834)

Speak for yourself. I'm certain there are people working on hard problems on HN.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do ... by AndrewKemendo on Monday August 21, 2017 @06:58PM (#15068496)

I'm curious what people on HN would consider "important things".

Well I'm n=1 but for me important is making concrete steps toward creating AGI.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A Stroke of Genius: Striving for Greatness in All You Do ... by Anonymous9761 on Tuesday August 22, 2017 @01:52AM (#15070052)

I think that "important things" are anything that helps ensure the survival of humanity. This doesn't really help narrow the field, as it is so all encompassing. At the moment, I feel that the most important thing is colonization of other planets, and preferably other star systems. My hope is that by 2250 there will be interstellar colony ships en-route.

[ Parent | on HN ]