Comment by jacoblyles | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jacoblyles | Hacker News Reader

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You'll be disabused of this implicit notion that you are always right at some point. You can choose to do so now or the world will force it on you later. But you will make little progress until you do.

Actually, the advice to get laid (with a pretty and not too drunk person) might be good here. It will force you to confront any social deficiencies you do have.

No offense, but your personality leaves a bad taste in my mouth, acidic, like a pasta sauce that hasn't been cooked long enough. You have no interest in making any changes in your life, but you admit yourself that you're not happy with what you're doing. You ask for advice with no intent on taking it, instead hosting a pity-party where other nerds stroke your ego by telling you that the world has wronged you, reinforcing your broken worldview.

Getting laid might mellow that out bit. Does for a lot of people. A person is more than just a brain. You must tend to the whole organism, not just the ego.

Right now, I wouldn't want to work with you on a project, no matter how smart you are. Don't need a prima Dona that thinks he's always right.

"You'll be disabused of this implicit notion that you are always right at some point."

Please tell me where I have ever said or implied that I was always right, or even right most of the time.

EDIT: I see you edited your post to say this twice, I suppose on the principle that "what I say three times is true".

"No offense, but your personality leaves a bad taste in my mouth, acidic, like a pasta sauce that hasn't been cooked long enough."

I will freely admit that I can be unpleasant at times, but I do know enough social skills to not insult random strangers who I have no reason to be hostile to.

"You ask for advice with no intent on taking it, instead hosting a pity-party where other nerds stroke your ego by telling you that the world has wronged you, reinforcing your broken worldview."

Wait, what? Look at the top-ranked comments on this thread, none of them could be remotely described as pitying me. Some people did give good advice, eg., lionhearted, zaidf, btilly.

I edit in place. Bad habit for public fora. Probably would have removed the repetition with a further edit had I not been called out on it and quoted so quickly.

"Look at the top-ranked comments on this thread, none of them could be remotely described as pitying me. Some people did give good advice, eg., lionhearted, zaidf, btilly."

Some of the most highly-ranked comments here tell you to work on a project where other people can't get in the way. That's the worst advice that I see. The world has gone collaborative. Learning to be a better collaborator will yield much higher returns.

And like I said, you come across as a whiner by putting the focus on all the external causes as to why your projects didn't succeed. I've seen so many people with a thousand external excuses as to why they can't do X that it quite offends me, especially coming from someone as talented and privileged as yourself.

Saying "I shouldn't bother with trying X because of reasons XYZ" is indeed a bad idea, but I try not to do that, and I think I've been decently successful. Is there anything that I should do for any of these projects, which I haven't been doing because of some convenient excuse? (This is not a rhetorical question, it would benefit me a lot if I realized I had been making some excuse to not try some new course of action.)

Privileged? I do have some privilege, in that I was born in a first-world country and not a third-world country, but that's about it. My parents aren't rich or famous or even upper middle class. My mom constantly worries about the bank foreclosing on her house because she can't pay the mortgage, my dad works as a salesman and lives in a junky 2BR apartment. I myself am flat broke, I actually have negative net worth because of the student loans I had to take out.

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