Re:Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?
by debatem1 on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @11:43AM
(#21126662)
I was a day laborer before I went into tech or got an education. And (like most people, I suspect) I do care about living an interesting life-- I just didn't know that I was trading that away. Didn't figure it out for a long time, actually.
Re:Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?
by dominotw on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @11:19AM
(#21137384)
> I do care about living an interesting life
Why can't you simply reverse your course of action though. Now that you have better understanding of both sides of it.
Re:Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?
by debatem1 on Wednesday October 02, 2019 @02:55PM
(#21139624)
I did. I left Google to take a job that is both more interesting and that leaves me more time to do interesting things.
Re:Ask HN: Will getting a PhD lead to a more interesting life?
by crispyambulance on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @11:48AM
(#21126720)
interesting != happy != success != wealth
These are all different, often orthogonal things.
There are people who are "stuck" in a socio-economic dead-end who still lead happy and interesting lives, nonetheless. They are able to take their situation in life and make the best of it.
The OP can do the same. He certainly has far more opportunities than a day-laborer or subsistence farmer. In a way, that abundance of choice is a burden. But nowhere is it written that PHD's are guaranteed to be "interesting", or even more interesting than anyone else.
I am assuming, you don't really care about living an interesting life as you traded an interesting life for one that insn't.
Also, when I say "day laborer" I am not talking about educated people who do that for a while. I am talking about ppl stuck in that situation with no way out.