My issue with unambitious people is that they rarely think more than a few months ahead. This means they end up not developing skills that would make them interesting to talk to and be around, are usually not doing interesting work, and are usually not even doing work well either. Just enough to get by and live a happy life. My other issues with such people is it seems very selfish to choose mediocrity and happiness in the present over happiness for your children, those around you, those you allegedly care about, and even your own future. It also seems rather stupid and inconsistent to say (and believe) things like, “I want enough money to live nicely, without spending 1/3rd of my days working,” but then also on every given day take no actions to achieve that goal—just enough to make it through the next few months.
Importantly, for me, you do not have to be ambitious to do these things properly. There are also passionate people who just really enjoy the things they’re studying or working on. However, it’s harder to get lucky with the right passion, and it’s also harder to motivate yourself without passion or ambition, so for most people, a lack of ambition is a serious flaw.
I don’t think love (or day-to-day happiness) and ambition are merely different terminal values. I think people who are ambitious in their teens and early twenties can probably experience greater love and happiness for the rest of their lives, so the oxytocin poisoning is actually just making people short-sighted and stupid. It makes sense in an ancestral environment where you could randomly die the next day, but in our modern world we tend to have longer horizons.
I also think John has a visceral reaction of disgust when confronted with unambitious people. I get that. It’s the feeling that, “I worked way harder and I didn’t complain about the hard work. I still work harder than you, in the hope that I can achieve my goal in a few years. I’ve even given you advice to help you catch up that I had to struggle to figure out for myself. Give me a break.”
My issue with unambitious people is that they rarely think more than a few months ahead. This means they end up not developing skills that would make them interesting to talk to and be around, are usually not doing interesting work, and are usually not even doing work well either. Just enough to get by and live a happy life. My other issues with such people is it seems very selfish to choose mediocrity and happiness in the present over happiness for your children, those around you, those you allegedly care about, and even your own future. It also seems rather stupid and inconsistent to say (and believe) things like, “I want enough money to live nicely, without spending 1/3rd of my days working,” but then also on every given day take no actions to achieve that goal—just enough to make it through the next few months.
Importantly, for me, you do not have to be ambitious to do these things properly. There are also passionate people who just really enjoy the things they’re studying or working on. However, it’s harder to get lucky with the right passion, and it’s also harder to motivate yourself without passion or ambition, so for most people, a lack of ambition is a serious flaw.
I don’t think love (or day-to-day happiness) and ambition are merely different terminal values. I think people who are ambitious in their teens and early twenties can probably experience greater love and happiness for the rest of their lives, so the oxytocin poisoning is actually just making people short-sighted and stupid. It makes sense in an ancestral environment where you could randomly die the next day, but in our modern world we tend to have longer horizons.
I also think John has a visceral reaction of disgust when confronted with unambitious people. I get that. It’s the feeling that, “I worked way harder and I didn’t complain about the hard work. I still work harder than you, in the hope that I can achieve my goal in a few years. I’ve even given you advice to help you catch up that I had to struggle to figure out for myself. Give me a break.”