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Comment by mistermann | Hacker News Reader

I take some exception to the part at ~14:46 where he says essentially that if the work you're doing isn't important and isn't likely to be important, why are you doing it?

I'd suggest that a lot of our progress is because of people that are passionate about things that other people think are a dead end. Also, some fields are more mysterious than others.

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Meaningful work is a personal thing. Passion and insights arise from deep within, and the creative sparks and fuel powering you to the edge of discovery may not yet exist in others. Each artist is on their own trajectory, almost by definition.

The key is that you are working on something that you think is important. Unless other people have spent time contemplating the problem and building up the mental vista, they won't be able to see what you see -- their lens will be cloudy and filled with spots.

If you see a meaningful problem that you know how to attack, it's up to you to make it a priority because if you have a unique perspective on a problem, you may be the only one in the world right now with the vision to solve it. He's saying make the conscious choice to seek meaningful work. Be guided by vision, don't waste time working on frivolous shit when you know you could be doing something more.

I think he touches on this. He later elaborates that you should work on problems that will become important.

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