[hdfhu]

"Successful people" are those that come to the ocean shore, build a sand castle (indeed, what else is this sand for?), develop depression protecting it from wind, water and sun, and even force other tourists to build the castle for them. And they die wondering why the ocean shore is such a cruel and pointless place. Their lives aren't worthless,though: at least they develop some will. The wise don't build castles, they just watch the ocean and think about the relationship between sand, water, wind and sun.

[Grimm1]

Thinking without interaction may as well be useless. Even the type of people I believe you to be speaking about wrote and shared their writings to influence others.

[dbtc]

We don't know how many more did not write or share their writings

[mikelyons]

The wisest realize there are no others.

[DoreenMichele]

Which obviously doesn't include anyone on HN talking to people in virtual space, you and me included.

[mikelyons]

Hehe, there could be people on HN who know they are talking to themselves in virtual space, but choose to engage anyway.

[felipemnoa]

This quote seems apt:

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

― George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

[_7fvc]

LOL. :) Sometimes I wonder what happens if humans go extinct. There may be a new civilization by ants, spiders, or insect descendants. Or there could be another reptilian domination.

I think the most "successful" people are the people I would not hear about. Likely, some mid-level executives, engineers, professionals. They have enough. They don't need to "move up". They're happy. They don't need to tell people about their stories. So we never hear about them.

[dsubburam]

> Sometimes I wonder what happens if humans go extinct. There may be a new civilization by ants, spiders, or insect descendants.

Well, in that case, we didn't really go extinct. The distinguishing feature of our kind is our rational faculty, allowing for discourse with others to explain our past actions and future intentions, that grows our self-consciousness (self requires an other[1]) and births civil society. Not our genetic makeup. If some insect species develops self-consciousness and civilization, I'd argue that we ought to recognize it as of our kind. Moreso than, say, apes who are closer to "us" genetically.

[1] Hegel. Phenomenology of Spirit, 1807. "self-consciousness achieves its satisfaction only in another self-consciousness… A self-consciousness exists for a self-consciousness. Only so is it in fact self-consciousness, for only in this way does the unity of itself in its otherness becomes explicit for it."

[WalterBright]

> The wise don't build castles

We would still be trying to kill food by throwing rocks if we were wise.

[SketchySeaBeast]

> We would still be trying to kill food by throwing rocks if we were wise.

Which is funny, because it would have been those first wise people who took the steps to get here.

[KSteffensen]

I kind of like not freezing in winter. And having a toilet. And antibiotics. And other stuff...

[WalterBright]

I sure love my first cuppa coffee in the morning. The miracle of global trade!

[mikelyons]

Wisdom is not for everyone.

[Apofis]

Wise people don't like playing with sand on a beach?

[dbtc]

Play vs work?