I grew up worrying a lot about the harms of our everyday consumption, and for a few years I’d just given up. I decided that the best we could do was give some value to the relatively tiny pool of people who meet us. So naturally, realizing that I could have a net positive effect on the world was huge! I’m still riding that high and I think we should pause more often to appreciate that. It acts as a strong source of satisfaction for me even when others work harder or donate more than I do.
This post also reminds me of this 80k episode. I particularly enjoy the framing that you might feel sorrow about not being Ilya Sutskever, but you shouldn’t feel guilt. You didn’t choose to be born with your particular set of IQ, health factors, surroundings etc so why think that they’re your fault?
I grew up worrying a lot about the harms of our everyday consumption, and for a few years I’d just given up. I decided that the best we could do was give some value to the relatively tiny pool of people who meet us. So naturally, realizing that I could have a net positive effect on the world was huge! I’m still riding that high and I think we should pause more often to appreciate that. It acts as a strong source of satisfaction for me even when others work harder or donate more than I do.
This post also reminds me of this 80k episode. I particularly enjoy the framing that you might feel sorrow about not being Ilya Sutskever, but you shouldn’t feel guilt. You didn’t choose to be born with your particular set of IQ, health factors, surroundings etc so why think that they’re your fault?