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Comment by iorrus | Hacker News Reader

It's a beautifully written essay but he misses the obvious. What was the point of spending all this time in what he admits but doesn't make explicit was a dead end. He would have ended up spending his life pretending to make important discoveries and doing something worthwile, in reality he would have been making "toy models".

He definitely made the right decision. I don't understand the "I quit" angst, it's sunk cost fallacy, no he didn't quit, he made a rational decision. It was a waste of his time and most likely everyone else who he mention's time.

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He did quit, there should not be shame in quitting, but he did quit. Others have the same difficulties as him, they don't quit, nor they achieved anything, that is the risk. Now he makes money in Wall Street. By his standards, he hasn't achieve anything yet, nor will ever, other than procuring for his family, which is not a small thing! But his dreams were about "The Grail", if they still are, then he quit. He quit a path that would most likely left him in the dust, but that it was the only path that could have possibly taken him to "The Grail", the current path won't take him anywhere near it. So unless he is able to change the narrative of his own life, he will forever be a failure, independently of how much money he can make in the trading floor.

Actually he resigned from Wall Street some time ago and is now a writer.

I agree 100% but his path to the grail was stifled where he was.

He made the right decision to escape but maybe he would have been better off living like Grigori Perelman and devoting himself mind body and soul to the grail. That’s what it takes, he should have left as soon as he felt the misalignment with the grail and the toy models he was working on as he was involved in fruitless make work.

I don't necessarily see it as angst. He didn't want it enough to keep at it. We're maybe taught to see that as a failure, but it can be a liberating realization.

I went to art school. I would not recommend most arts to anyone who can bear doing something different. You will likely sacrifice most of what people consider a normal life to be an artist. If you don't want it so bad you have no choice, you can have a very nice life. "Wanting it" can be a burden.

There's a Burning Hell song called "Give Up" which expresses your point nicely: https://open.spotify.com/track/32BAQ6weHlO7hS1O3HEdYK?autopl...

Presumably he did not exactly cure World Hunger at Wall Street either, though he almost certainly did not have to worry about killing cockroaches at night.

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