>Today, we still remember the names of

So you're living based on how you will be remembered by strangers? That sounds incredibly unfulfilling and doesn't sound like a good way to live. In a few hundred more years almost no one will remember the names of those people either.

>da Vinci, Tesla, Turing

It's incredibly safe to say that you are not going to be as successful as these people. Almost no one achieves this much success in the sciences. At most you will probably advance your field by a few useful steps and then be personally forgotten about except in research paper footnotes.

>not because they had a successful family

You know who cares about you and remembers you more significantly than as a research footnote? Your family.

>I just want to keep the dream I had as a kid

Man, don't we all.

In a few hundred years nobody will remember you either: x220 the family man, who lived a complete life and raised wonderful children who went on to live very comfortable lives and have children of their own.

"I" am the best witness to my existence. Not the person giving my eulogy. Who are you to tell someone how to define what "fulfilling" means to them?

Why are you trying to tell this guy what he should value? He wants to do work that interests and excites him, and he's making the tradeoffs that balance his personal set of values - with, incidentally, far more information than you have about what those values and specific tradeoffs are.

Pursue your own balance of values with passion, and allow others to be meaningfully different from you. Their desires don't diminish yours.

I think that was in response to the false dichotomy the guy created, and the implied judgments about skill for those who didn't value what he did.

Are you reading what you're typing to this person? You're like the evil dad in the family telling their kids they will amount to nothing.

It's not for everyone, but it sounds like you know what you want, and you are in the position to do it. Go for it!

I'm with you, man. I'd rather spend my life pursuing big dreams and try to do something meaningful, and leave a legacy - even if I fail and die broke, penniless and alone - then spend my life engaging in boring, pedestrian "normalcy".

I can live with failing. I can't live with not trying.

Just please make sure to take breaks and recharge or you will burnout. Burnout is about imbalance, remember that this life is a marathon not a sprint.