> Purpose is so hard to come by now because we all don't know what we want. When we do know, we're constantly unsure about it.
This statement resonates deeply with me.
Whenever I meet someone new or that I might be interested in dating I ask "What are you doing with your life?" or "What are you striving for?" and I find the extreme majority of people don't have an answer beyond "I just go to a job I don't really like"
It seems very few people are seriously driven and motivated and living a life where they're pushing hard to achieve something great.
Why do they have to? I have that drive, but my wife is perfectly happy with a calm, comfortable, stress-free life. And in fact it helps to bring me back down to Earth sometimes also.
There's nothing wrong with wanting a life that free. In fact it's oftentimes admirable. Especially at times when I'm wound so tight I feel like I could pop.
If you're choosing a partner based solely on whether they want to be the next Elon Musk or not, you're doing yourself a serious disservice.
And if you really ask those questions to every potential date, you should stop, because dude, wtf?
Wow, I think you really misunderstood me. I'm not saying anyone has to do anything, I just said it's really inspiring to see people that are passionate, and are driven and motivated about something. And I want people like that in my life.
I'm not saying I want an Elon Musk for a partner, I'm saying it's inspiring, and I'm drawn to people that actually have a purpose and a reason to get out of bed, and they're striving for something. Maybe it's take a month off to ski tour around Mt. Logan this spring. Maybe it's sail around the Northwest passage, or maybe it's learning a new language. Maybe it's getting up early every day to do Yoga.
Anything, really.
I'm just saying I feel like a lot of people these days have nothing that they're striving for. They just go to work, and go home, and aren't even particularly happy about it. If you asked them what the point is they don't even have an answer. If you ask them what they will have achieved in 5 or 10 years, they have nothing. They're not even trying to do anything.
> Especially at times when I'm wound so tight I feel like I could pop.
It's a mistake to think that to be driven and passionate and motivated about something also means you have to be wound tightly. I've never spent time with anyone that is wound tightly, and I can't imagine how difficult that would be.
EDIT: Replying to your comment lower down - I absolutely DO NOT ever ask anyone what their plan to change the world is, and I never said anything like that above. I ask them what they're passionate about, and what they're striving towards. That doesn't have to be change the world.
The question posed was why do they Have to? Not why Should they.
Of course we need people driven to move society forward. But there is a stigma in modern society it seems around people who are perfectly happy being who they are and not "striving to be great". And that's ridiculous.
The previous poster asks all his potential dates, with what seems to be a fairly heavy helping of disdain for the "wrong answer", what their plan to change the world is.
Why does it matter? You go change the world. Let your spouse or your friends or your colleagues be content with not changing the world and just be happy living in it.
I'm not saying this is wrong or right, but perhaps some people feel everyone has a duty to do something meaningful to push society forward, otherwise they are essentially free-riding on everyone else's sacrifices.
And that something may very well be as broad a goal as "do your very best, everyday".
Sure, you can't force people to see the world through that same lens, but you can certainly pick partners based on traits which you admire, ambition / grit presumably being one of such traits.
I'm not. I'm just judging him for doing so. Which is wrong. I shouldn't have phrased it like that. I guess that stigma in society around people who are perfectly happy being happy and don't feel the need to "be great" is sensitive to me because my wife constantly receives a lot of crap for it.
So you be you, previous poster. Just don't look down on others who don't want to change the world.
I think this is what inspires me about spacex/musk, too. I'm not convinced there's a rational, utilitarian justification for settling Mars. But is there anything wrong with doing it solely for the purpose of having a grand purpose in the face of infinite uncertainty and doubt?
It's definitely very difficult. I'm striving to learn a new language,improve at chess and olympic weightlifting but that's a much lower level of purpose than building spaceships to reach Mars. I hope that I can find something in my career that fuels a burning desire like some of the SpaceX employees
> I'm striving to learn a new language, improve at chess and olympic weightlifting
Not that my opinion matters, but I think those are fantastic goals to strive for. If it's making you happy to challenge yourself, go for it!
THAT is exactly the purpose I'm talking about vs. someone that doesn't try at anything and doesn't have any idea what they'd like to do, or achieve, or improve in the next 10 years.
> I hope that I can find something in my career that fuels a burning desire like some of the SpaceX employees
I've accepted I won't find that kind of career, so I to do it in my outside life (like you are!)
> It's quite inspiring to see a real goal and drive towards it.
I'm throughly uninspired... As a friend of mine once said: "progress when you're going the wrong direction, is turning around".
The idea that we'll settle Mars while the Earth burns in borderline sinister. It reminds me of the elite outpost from Kingsman (the movie).
We have a planet that is in dire need of this kind of motivated action, and yet Elon would rather be distracted by this dream.
Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the "cool" factor of expanding to other planets. I too enjoy a good science fiction story. Who wouldn't want to escape the problems we've inherited, and proliferated.
But escapism solves nothing for "us", and it's foolish to think Mars is anything else. If we as humans can't live on Earth responsibly, we frankly don't deserve to exist at all.
(Perhaps we should pull a Titan A.E., and preserve some DNA in the vast wasteland of space. Just in case an alien species decides to give us another go)
> We have a planet that is in dire need of this kind of motivated action, and yet Elon would rather be distracted by this dream.
What? You see a motivated person with the resources and drive to pursue his dream and you're upset that he's not putting his vision aside to pursue what you think is important? Musk doesn't owe you anything.
The person who is doing this is also very concerned with the state of affairs on Earth.
He owns SolarCity, a solar panel company, Tesla, an electric car and battery company, and Boring Company, an attempt at creating a transportation system that mandates the use of EV.
The fact that all of this technology will benefit human existence on Mars should go ahead and show you how developing technology in order to survive a situation far more dire than Earth's, in a sustainable way, might also help us better survive our situation on Earth.
That's a fair point, and I'm not trying to say everything Elon is doing is bad or wrong. I wish his other projects got even a fraction of the attention his space project gets.
Why are you reacting strongly to the topic of Mars or maybe Musk in general? Fixing Earth and going to Mars are not mutually exclusive and beside that there are a lot of billionaires doing far less useful things for humanity. Complaining that they could do something more useful would be more understandable, imo.
That line of thinking is next to insane. You should be happy he is not somewhere on the yaht drinking $20K whine every night.
That can be said about anything - why do you buy board games or watch sport events every night or learn to play piano - you should be saving the planet ffs...
The technology developed for Mars will improve life on Earth, in ways we can't even imagine.
Human effort isn't completely fungible. There is no guarantee that all of the people working incredibly hard at SpaceX would switch to work on whatever problem you want them to.
It's sad that you think your priorities should be everyones' priorities. Find like-minded people and get to work. But what people get inspired of is none of your business to judge.
>If we as humans can't live on Earth responsibly, we frankly don't deserve to exist at all.
We did for a long time though, except for relatively recently. And Mars won't be able to live without Earth for a long time so it isn't really escapism as you paint it.
I don't think we deserve to disappear completely, but if we don't reverse climate change, we'll have a ton of loss of life but not likely total extinction except for some astronauts. That's probably "enough" as far as galactic justice goes. I'm always a little disappointed in this argument though because it's climate change that we should be judged by, rather than massive deaths from human made conflicts throughout history. Surely there's lots of previous events that qualify for "we don't deserve to exist at all".
Do we need another eccentric billionaire but for climate change though? Sure, bring it on.
Instead of being fatalistic and bemoaning the problem, you'll find yourself in a better mental space if you just apply yourself to solving it. Yes, you will only start with small steps, and yes, that will be a great risk, but in the end it the only chance we have of making things work.
Fixing climate change is a political problem first of all. A very different set of talents is needed here.
You'll have to convince or force people to change their priorities. First is probably not possible, due to the slow moving nature of the threat, second has its own drawbacks as well.
> As a friend of mine once said: "progress when you're going the wrong direction, is turning around".
I disagree strongly.
Progress in the wrong direction still teaches you things, and it means you're moving and you've overcome the inertia of doing nothing, which is half the battle.
Failure isn't trying and not reaching your goal. Failure is never trying.
The discussion started out as "is it better to do something, or do nothing at all", which is outside of morals, but more about motivation and actually doing something.
Obviously if it's a horrible moral choice (i.e. Hitler) then sure, it's best if nothing is done.
In the very vast majority of cases ( build a better car, spaceship, software, grow better food, get fitter, learn a new language, help our community, be a better friend, etc. etc.), then doing something is much, much preferable to not even trying.
The topic of better vs worse, or good vs evil is the very basis of morality.
"Morality (noun): principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior."
I encourage you to think more deeply about your argument. I struggle to agree that the "very vast majority of cases" are positive.
It sounds to me like you are sensitive to apathy and/or nihilism. I can understand that, especially these days, but just because it feels like nothing is being done doesn't mean things can't get worse.
I suspect any reasons you'll come up with are all still less urgent than the needs of our Earth.
I've heard the argument about learning to control the climate through taraforming (or whatever you want to call it), but I'm completely unconvinced that is an efficient method.
I'd be willing to be convinced otherwise, but I'm very skeptical.
Purpose is so hard to come by now because we all don't know what we want. When we do know, we're constantly unsure about it.
Such a clear goal makes it easy to have greater purpose that you don't second guess.
This isn't a scheme to get rich, a zero sum political movement, or a narcissistic artistic endeavor. It's pretty unique there.
There's that whole danger of a cult of personality but the project is bearing fruit.