What made me write the blog posting was the observation that many brilliant people I know waste their talent on what I tend to think of as "the lottery of Internet fads". They don't even try to solve hard problems or find opportunities that are under-explored.
I did not say that failures were unimportant or bad. Nor did I say that you should never do projects that are shallow.
But I do think that failing at something that is hard or original is preferable to failing at something everyone else is doing.
Every time someone attempts to judge what other people work I think of this quote:
It is only possible to succeed at second-rate pursuits -- like becoming a millionaire or a prime minister, winning a war, seducing beautiful women, flying through the stratosphere, or landing on the moon. First-rate pursuits -- involving, as they must, trying to understand what life is about and trying to convey that understanding -- inevitably result in a sense of failure. A Napoleon, a Churchill, or a Roosevelt can feel himself to be successful, but never a Socrates, a Pascal, or a Blake. Understanding is forever unattainable. --Malcom Muggeridge
SV rewards people who fall for the cheap parlor tricks of extrinsic motivation. "You'll be a multi-millionaire! Just work your ass off! Here's a crappy title to tide you over." Why do you think they pursue young engineers aggressively? They prey on a lack of self-awareness. Actually, they need it in order to make it sustainable.
The real solution is to rewrite the cultural narrative that praises these sorts of runaway successes as being essential. We're being held hostage by individualism. When we deify success, we say "it's ok to neglect your SO/family/health!"
SV rewards people who fall for the cheap parlor tricks of extrinsic motivation. "You'll be a multi-millionaire! Just work your ass off! Here's a crappy title to tide you over." Why do you think they pursue young engineers aggressively? They prey on a lack of self-awareness. Actually, they need it in order to make it sustainable.
Thank you for writing this. I wish I had read it several years ago. I had to learn what you wrote through experience. It would have been much better for me to have just had a mentor tell it to me.
I did not say that failures were unimportant or bad. Nor did I say that you should never do projects that are shallow.
But I do think that failing at something that is hard or original is preferable to failing at something everyone else is doing.