[antiform]

To me, the article isn't saying to abandon the road to mastery, but merely to take some detours once in a while. Dedicating a lot of time and energy to something is definitely fulfilling and has a compounding effect, but as many astute programmers have noticed, there is an echo-chamber effect if all the information you get is from programmers and the programming world. Worse, you could continue to hold incredibly inaccurate beliefs about other people like the professional photographer in the article, and make judgment calls based on that false information.

Of course you need something to bring to table in modern times, to be a productive member of society. However, that doesn't mean to specialize to the extent that you lose all context. Dig deep, sure, but come up for air sometime and take a look around. You'll be surprised at what you may discover.

[abalashov]

To the extent that it is possible to strike that balance, you'll get no argument from me. :-)

I think the reason every reasonable person doesn't just do this without needing to read an article to remind him of the value of doing so is that it's really hard to do in these modern times.

Before I graduated from high school and started working in tandem with college (which rapidly escalated into a full-time career development path and compelled me to drop out, eventually), I used to hold a lot of people in deep contempt for being so ignorant and narrowminded at a time of historically unprecedented access to a never before seen breadth of information; between the Internet, book sellers, public libraries, universities, etc. there's just nothing you can't learn about if you want to these days.

What I had no concept of is that after you come home from a 10-hour day at an intense job, even a technical white-collar job that seems physically undemanding from a superficial perspective, all you want to do is just veg out; even then, there are too many other bullshit errands to do. It's not just strictly a matter of time being available logically; it takes energy, mental and spiritual, to come home at 7 PM and then compose symphonies until bed time.

Some people are more insistent than others at doing what they want to in spite of what they have to, but it's not reasonable to expect most people to do that even if the availability is technically there. We may have it easy compared to our ancestors from many economic and physical points of view, but that doesn't mean we aren't plagued with some of the problems existentially perennial to the economic man.

EDIT: Also, I am not sure that the "echo chamber" that characterises Valley web startup culture is any more sealed or myopic than the echo chambers of other comparably specialised combinations of professional endeavour. Ever seen what financial instruments traders breathe, eat, snort, etc. 24/7? People who participate in insurance industry MLM schemes? People "tracked" for "blue-collar" skilled trades? People who love and excel at working on cars or motorcycles? Realtors, mortgage brokers? I'm talking about the folks that are on top of their game in those respective sectors - the "hackers" - not the most bromidically average, uninspired 9-to-5ers. It's very similar.

[discreteevent]

Yes but you are working with the assumption that you must be "on top of [your] game". i.e. that you must "win". Alan Kay said that perspective is worth 80 IQ points. Let me give you an example: Suppose you decided to drop out for a year at the risk of sliding back from the top of your game. Suppose you went to a third world country and worked for a charity. Suppose you came back with a different perspective namely: Most of the stuff we do in the west is completely superflous. Its about making life even more convenient and sumptuous for those who already have far too much. That in fact every minute of your amatuer and inefficient time was worth hours of what you were doing professionally because the work you did as an amateur was so much more important. In summary: The persepctive you get is that the game you were trying to be at the top of is a game not worth playing, that really it was doing you and the world no good and that on your deathbed being able to say: "I was the best at X for a while, knew everything there was to know about it" - doesn't amount to much. Note: I haven't done this. I am just saying that I think it is possible based on some experiences I had while travelling (and neglecting my game). Bill Gates seems to have had a similar insight but true to form he went and did something about it.

[abalashov]

The persepctive you get is that the game you were trying to be at the top of is a game not worth playing, that really it was doing you and the world no good and that on your deathbed being able to say: "I was the best at X for a while, knew everything there was to know about it" - doesn't amount to much.

Certainly can't argue with that. I'm just trying to provide a useful account of why people who play the game play it with the total commitment that they do.