Thursday, August 31, 2006

power

Over dinner at Google tonight, Vanessa and I caught up on the current state of our old friends from Caltech.

W opened up a bar in a rural town in China.
X works at a bookstore in Seattle.
Y is living in Los Angeles and relaxing (i.e. not working).
Z is living in South America and relaxing (i.e. not working).

It is surprising how many of our classmates turned their back on the fields they studied at Caltech. Imagine it: you work passionately throughout your teen years, culminating in four years of rigorous study at Caltech. You put in long hours to get a degree from one of the highest ranked science and engineering universities.

Then you turn your back on it, to pursue a life that takes no advantage of those talents.

As far as I can tell, all these people are very happy.

Three years ago, after Wesley left his software startup, I invited him to consider working for Google. He decided no, and instead moved to China and turned an old building into a bar.

When we exchanged email last year, he said something to the effect of, "Occasionally I have 1% regret over the financial impact of that decision. But I wouldn't trade my current feeling of freedom for any amount of money."

...

It reminds me of a conversation with Cliff a couple years ago, about the dynamics in relationships.

I said, "The person who cares less has more power."

Cliff said, "No, the person who needs less has more power."

7 comments:

  1. I love this post. It rings very true.

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  2. This instant and eternity are struggling within us. And this is the cause of all of our contradictions, our obstinacy, our narrow-mindedness, our faith and our grief.

    - Arvo Pärt

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  3. finally, niniane is in a old Chinese mood :D

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  4. Good post,so where is Wesley's Bar? Maybe I have the chance to that rural town. :) seriously.

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  5. I disagree with Cliff - I can need more and care less when my partner cares more than I do, and she's apt to fulfill my needs while requiring less of me.

    But then, it may be that I see a partner as a "want" and not as a "need", and that therefore everything is based on whether I care or not.

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  6. Related to what Bene was saying, I don't think the people pursuing these alternate career paths have "lesser" needs, rather just different ones.

    I think it's difficult to place value on a given career choice without evaluating what the person truly wants out of life.

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  7. Great post.

    Anonymous @2:14am: great quote. I was just listening to Passio last night.

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