I'm still trying to figure out what path I want to take the future. Two things fascinate me: human potential and the secrets of the world. Let me explain: I'm interested in how we can maximize human greatness, how we can become as good or skilled as possible. I don't know why, but this has always fascinated me. I want to see how far I could go in life by developing "virtue"(in the Aristotelian sense)and skills. Eventually, I want to work with education and others to see how far society can go as well. Maybe it's because I'm still young and hopeful, or maybe it's because I read a lot of self-help books, but I truly think that every human can achieve so much with education if they have the right motivation. Not with the current public education we have, but through learning about science, philosophy and self-development(kinda vague, but I hope you get the point). It be fascinating to see how far individuals--society--can achieve. Second, I want to discover secrets, to figure out how stuff works and create something from that knowledge. In a grandiose sense,use that knowledge to change the world. A conflict arises: On one hand, there are the infinite secrets of the natural world that we use science to discover and utilize it to create. However, there are also secrets inside the other world of business and government--society's history. I think discovering secrets like that would be satisfying as well and could be used to create something better. But whatever I eventually want to do, it seems to always come down to Money. As much as I hate to say it, I'm starting to think that money drives this world, whether it's applying for grants for research and of course, in all the business and government that runs this world. I want my independence in the future, and I want my curiosity to be free. And its seems like money inextricably buys that freedom. I don't know. These are just thoughts. TLDR: I'm coming to the realization/belief that wealth is tied to many things in life, and my future will be inextricably linked to attaining wealth. But not for showing off or buying fancy shit though. More so for somehow "changing the world" and liberating myself. Just some thoughts for now.These ideas are still ruminating but that is the general outline.
Grad school, and I know where I want to go (Human-Computer Interaction and... some related stuff) but I'm not sure how to get there. It's more than just that general topic though, I know I never want my own kids, but that I DO want to be an aunt or mentor. I know where I want to live, how I want to live... It's like I'm done "finding myself" and need to figure out what to do with that knowledge.
I feel a lot of the same things. I'm stimulated by an intense curiosity. I want to explore the universe and human society in the same way you described. I also feel like an activist at heart. I want to effect change in the world. I want to help people. I'm not sure how to.
I'm in my fourth semester at an Ivy League university in a Computer Science program. I'm thinking grad school is a likely path. I do well in school, but I do not have a good work ethic and waste a lot of time. Would you like to know more about any specific aspect of my situation? I'm also curious about yours. I kind of assumed you're in university too.
I'm in Binghamton, same semester as you. Ithaca is gorges...ha.
Cornell. It's big. The classes are large and often impersonal. But Ithaca is great, the campus is beautiful, and they have many really great programs. I like it here a lot. I went into CS because it excites me. It's fun to be able to easily plan, build, and use tools that actually work, which is easy to do since it takes nothing but a computer to build a program. And analyzing problems algorithmically is interesting to me. However, I am definitely not going the standard route of the Cornell CS major. Most of my peers are going to go work at some mature internet startup as a software engineer. They'll get paid handsomely to build tools that most likely will not involve effecting meaningful change in the world or exploring or learning about the world or universe. I need to do those two things. I hope I'll figure out how to during grad school. But until I know what my first career will be and I'm done with school, I don't want to sit around doing nothing productive except school like it's all I'm good for. I need to get involved with something meaningful now.
Hm. A lot of my friends finish undergrad and head into finance or consulting--two huge brain drains from Ivy League schools. CS seems to have a lot of potential though. It's definitely going to be the future of a lot of stuff and the next big things are falling into the category of CS. I don't know how your financial situation is, but I feel like that's always a burden as well to some extent. Maybe you could start your own startup? Or apply to internships at facebook,google, etc.? I think that's what some of my friends are doing. I don't think they intend to stay there their whole lives, but I guess it's a starting point and they can learn from it. It just depends on what you want in the future. If you have a vision of effecting the world,I think it'll happen. Many people want to find love,start a family,be "happy"-- effect another type of world.Which is fine too. Depends on what you find fulfilling in life. I rooting for you man. Too often do we get trapped into cynicism or get ridiculed as naive "idealists." I say,you only live once: mind as well see what you're capable of doing, what your capable of effecting. You'll never know unless you try.