Sometimes I'm surprised at how different my intuitions about people are from yours, and then I remember you lived in the Midwest
My point here isn't that brilliant + productive people are *actually* creepy/maladjusted, it's that we culturally pathologize the kind of intense, unyielding interest they exhibit right up until they do something incredible. And then we pin their success on anything but *that*https://twitter.com/webdevMason/status/998867955264905216 …
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My brain doesn't peg this as something with geographic differences within the US. Except maybe urban vs rural? Or maybe I a) didn't notice some things while I was in the Midwest for school b) was in a bubble while I was there, or c) haven't lived places that are different enough
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I have never seen anyone describe this so well. Bravo.
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This also creates a perverse misconception along the lines of "OK, sure, so-and-so had the unique DNA to do something incredible, but most kids don't, and THEY need school." Well, maybe. Or lots more kids are capable of greatness than we think, and school beats it out of them.
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Final thought:
@tylercowen pointed out that startups are a smaller % of the economy today than in 1980. My hunch: the early 80's are when we started drugging kids w/ADHD, who are statistically way more likely to "care" intensely / start businesses than the general population
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I agree, but add that a few exceptions are accommodated. Those choosing to surrender the expected trappings of a socially imposed timeline: the marriage, kids, possessions, for med school, art, a commission (military/shipping), can find respect where a tech founder may not. Bias.
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maybe there's a reason that "intense, unyielding interest" is considered maladjusted? if being that way became the norm, maybe it would disrupt some key part of the social fabric. maybe it's optimized at the fringe bc you get both rare breakthroughs & a stable social web?
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