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I definitely agree, and I think this mindset develops in many technically inclined people only after you spend a significant amount of time living in the real world. I imagine many of us from a young age find an interest in math and science because the logic makes sense. We build on first principles and everything has an objective truth. Perhaps in our early lives we experience things that don't "make sense" in this way, so we throw ourselves into a world of logic that we can more easily understand. Great for academic success, and after all, when we're young we're probably in a world where academic success is lauded (school or college). We are quite literally rewarded with good grades and honor societies for thinking in this way, so it reinforces the idea that this way of thinking is "right". Or at least, this was the case for me throughout high school and college. I remember thinking at the time, "All of these people around me partying, having fun, getting into trouble, living illogically -- they're doing things wrong." But then at a certain point we leave these structured environments and are on our own. And we continue to run into experiences where we try, again and again, to apply algorithms to life, and they almost always fail. It seems like we can come to one of two conclusions: Either the algorithm is still incomplete and the parameters need tweaking, or we realize that there is no algorithm, or at least no knowable algorithm. We're just too complex, too irrational by nature, to be described by some knowable set of rules. Every time our "life algorithm" fails it hurts, because it feels like we failed. So we do whatever we possibly can to avoid failure in the future, and yet those failures keep coming and hurt more and more each time. Until, hopefully, we arrive at that second conclusion which comes with both relief and regret. Relief because instead of trying to describe life with an algorithm, we can actually start living it. And regret because we no longer have the freedom to make those same sorts of mistakes that help us build character when we're young, because they probably have real consequences now. Plus it's really damn hard to give up the way we've been living since childhood. Things like practicing mindfulness and meditation help a lot. Anyway...that's my two cents. |