Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 20171/ So slightly more structured follow-on to this unstructured riff on ambitionQuote TweetVenkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017I'm getting curious about psychology of shrinking horizons with age. 20% is learning limits, 20% adulting constraints, but 60% = mystery...1411
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr2/ A good unit for ambition is "baby equivalents." We already talk figuratively of projects as "babies", so why not formalize intuition123
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr3/ It is traditional in the US today to measure babies in terms of how much they cost ($1 million for middle class baby through college)13
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr4/ But this is the wrong way around. Children are the measure of economics-priced things, not the other way around.16
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr5/ One child is basically a certain fraction of no-strings/no-preset-budget time/quality attention allocation for rest of life114
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr6/ Memetic children have higher infant mortality rate, but the principle is the same. I'd guess one childbirth (for men)= writing 3 books27
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr7/ Not all projects are ambition vehicles, or comparable to children. Close-ended projects with end date are not like children.13
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr8/ The reason a book is like a child is that *if* it succeeds enough, it is an indefinite demand on your attention319
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr9/ A flop book, or a mercenary/tactical book for which you have no ambitions beyond a seasonal fad harvest is like an child that dies young12
Venkatesh Rao@vgrReplying to @vgr10/ More calibration. An ordinary startup is like 1 child. If it grows into unicorn, it's like 3-4 kids for the founder if they stay with it5:05 PM · Aug 2, 20175 Likes
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr11/ Political ambitions I think are higher. A local election bid is like 1 child if you win. National-level is like 2. President=1014
Venkatesh Rao@vgr·Aug 2, 2017Replying to @vgr12/ The trick to baby equivalent things is that *if* they succeed, they demand particular levels of attention/commitment for rest of life18