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Comment by MinimalAction | Hacker News Reader

As a graduate student, this piece made me sad. I always believed that my work speaks for itself and transcends beyond my limited time on this cosmic experience. This notion of immortality was just a small intangible bonus I hoped for when I jumped into grad school. AI is making me feel less worthy.

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As someone who is much further down the track, I would kindly suggest you drop that line of thought. I've seen far too many brilliant and ambitious people drop into depression because of it.

You are worthy of doing this work because you are able to do it. Do the work because you love it and because you love the mystery. Enjoy every moment that you get to do it. Find joy in the great fortune you have to do this work while others toil away on tasks that bring them no satisfaction. Sometimes it's tedious, but sometimes it's incredibly rewarding in its own right.

Don't work for the possibility of eternal glory though, it just doesn't exist anymore.

Thank you for this comment. I often fall into the why of graduate school many times. The pay is insufficient, hours are long, but at least I find it very satisfying on good days. It is just the feeling that what I do may not be unique anymore is what sucks. I didn't necessarily mean to find glory through incredible work alone, but through being unique in the problems I choose. Anyway, I digress.

And this matters to you? To be unique? So you care about what other people think about you and you must be special in their eyes? Cuck beta male mindset

You are worthy. You will hone your skills in grad school and be able to command these AIs better than somebody who hasn’t struggled with hard problems for a long time.

A depressing thought that all that work is just so you can "command AIs better"

It could happen than the AI, in a near future, is not something external but just a part of your brain, so you retain the glory.

Hah this is getting worse and worse

Why stop there? Why not let AI take over all functions, Whispering Earring (https://gwern.net/doc/fiction/science-fiction/2012-10-03-yva... for anyone who hasn't read it) style?

All that work to kick a ball into a net.

Nobody looks at this species and goes hm, rational and reasonable :)

"If you value intelligence above all other human qualities, you're gonna have a bad time." - Ilya Sutskever, 2023

Let me tell you, there is a ton more to learn in this reality than llms are capable of finding out on their own, especially when it comes to truth, ethics and morality. And those are the only thing that matter in the end when you leave this reality. A greater challenge does not exist.

I feel bravery transcends time better than the odd scientific breakthrough which are often attributed to one, but whose roots came from a "lesser" unknown

try meditation.

Thanks. This might help. Are you suggesting any particular form?

Just meditate everyday.

Two meditation systems that I've had success with - Unified Mindfulness by Shinzen Young; and The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa.

I've felt the latter is more complicated and involved, but the rewards are tangible.

> I always believed that my work speaks for itself and transcends beyond my limited time on this cosmic experience

Any statement preceded by the word 'believe' is a coping mechanism.

> This notion of immortality was just a small intangible bonus I hoped for when I jumped into grad school

Any statement preceded by the word 'hope' is a coping mechanism.

> AI is making me feel less worthy

Worth comes from understanding, not achievement.

I strongly disagree on beliefs and hopes are coping mechanisms. Coping from what? Beliefs and hopes are what they are.

But I agree worth should be derived from understanding, not through achievement.

> Coping from what?

From not having the thing you hope for or believe in.

I want a cookie.

I'm going to get a cookie. No believe, no hope.

I may not get a cookie. Oh no. I'm stressed. How do I deal with the stress? I hope I get a cookie. I believe I'm going to get a cookie. That's a coping mechanism.

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