I am curious, do you feel some kind of gratification when you help or guide someone?
If you do good work but it leaves no impact on anyone, no one validates your effort, does it effect you?
______
Love the Newton mention. Recently I was reading about the stages of discovery in modern physics and got to know what being a student of science really means.
Why you have to understand the past to create a new understanding for the future.
To quote it directly "in 18th century, Newton constructs modern physics. He imagines all objects have a natural motion (an idea of aristotle) at a constant speed (an idea of Galileo) in a physical space described by Euclidean geometry (an idea of his own"
— from White Holes
_______
To me, legacies don't seem to be static. Newton is very very recent like 300 years ago.
Sooner or later someone will find exceptions or falisify Newton's equations.
Which kind of already happened with quantum mechanics with Heisenberg & Schrodinger in 1920s (100 years ago)
Newton has a strong tombstone but time can bring every legacy to dust. A faraway story.
His mentions in books will go from chaptees, to a few pages, to para to one sentence. Father of something something.
______
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Super curious now.
______
It was such an interesting read. I got carried away. Thank you:)
You have lots of thoroughly interesting thoughts and questions, and I will try my best to take them one by one without letting this turn into a written podcast xD
---
Do I feel a sense of gratification when supporting someone? Absolutely, yes. And would a lack of validation affect me? A lot less than it used to.
One thing that I have been trying to practice more is to prioritise my sense of fulfilment before other things. I do still find it in more collaborative efforts. But I've realised over time that there is a point after which catering to everyone else's desires can come in the way of serving my necessities. So I choose my battles more mindfully, and lately it's helped me build a deeper sense of peace.
---
Appreciate your appreciation of the Newton mention. The scientific history around his work is really fascinating. I must read more.
---
I'm understanding the fluidity of the concept of legacy a lot better now. You're absolutely right that the future holds no bounds. But at least today, the tombstone hasn't withered away, and maybe some parts of it will, but maybe some parts also never will. So I appreciate him for how we understand science and how we see him today.
That's also why the Woz section was important for me to cover.
---
You need to read more Camus. I think you will enjoy his works.
---
Always appreciate you being carried away with my writings. We should definitely catch up over these pieces, both yours and mine, sometime soon.
I read this essay for the first time around a month ago. I read quite a few times since then. It's undoubtedly one of the best pieces I read this year. Your main argument, different anecdotes, the flow from one story to another, and the switch to Absurdism to connect legacy, work that we do with Camus' philosophy is my favorite part of all.
Personally, I feel even Newton must have felt that his name should be written beneath the laws he discovered. Steve Wozniak must have felt that people who are using Apple I should know who created it. But zooming out to decades and centuries long duration, I believe they mustn't have thought of leaving behind a legacy... they just did what they are best at. they performed their duties.
Camus tells us to rebel against absurdism, saying that life has no inherited meaning. If the universe has no meaning, there isn't a point figuring out what's the meaning of life. But this keeps US responsible for creating meaning through our actions. Your take, that people around you notice and care about your actions even if the universe doesn't, is really a new perspective I found after reading Camus for over three years.
Last few paragraphs reminded me of the classic Karm Karte Raho Parth, Phal Ki Chinta Na Karo from Bhagwadgeeta's second chapter. I believe it fits in perfectly with your core message.
I am curious, do you feel some kind of gratification when you help or guide someone?
If you do good work but it leaves no impact on anyone, no one validates your effort, does it effect you?
______
Love the Newton mention. Recently I was reading about the stages of discovery in modern physics and got to know what being a student of science really means.
Why you have to understand the past to create a new understanding for the future.
To quote it directly "in 18th century, Newton constructs modern physics. He imagines all objects have a natural motion (an idea of aristotle) at a constant speed (an idea of Galileo) in a physical space described by Euclidean geometry (an idea of his own"
— from White Holes
_______
To me, legacies don't seem to be static. Newton is very very recent like 300 years ago.
Sooner or later someone will find exceptions or falisify Newton's equations.
Which kind of already happened with quantum mechanics with Heisenberg & Schrodinger in 1920s (100 years ago)
Newton has a strong tombstone but time can bring every legacy to dust. A faraway story.
His mentions in books will go from chaptees, to a few pages, to para to one sentence. Father of something something.
______
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
Super curious now.
______
It was such an interesting read. I got carried away. Thank you:)
You have lots of thoroughly interesting thoughts and questions, and I will try my best to take them one by one without letting this turn into a written podcast xD
---
Do I feel a sense of gratification when supporting someone? Absolutely, yes. And would a lack of validation affect me? A lot less than it used to.
One thing that I have been trying to practice more is to prioritise my sense of fulfilment before other things. I do still find it in more collaborative efforts. But I've realised over time that there is a point after which catering to everyone else's desires can come in the way of serving my necessities. So I choose my battles more mindfully, and lately it's helped me build a deeper sense of peace.
---
Appreciate your appreciation of the Newton mention. The scientific history around his work is really fascinating. I must read more.
---
I'm understanding the fluidity of the concept of legacy a lot better now. You're absolutely right that the future holds no bounds. But at least today, the tombstone hasn't withered away, and maybe some parts of it will, but maybe some parts also never will. So I appreciate him for how we understand science and how we see him today.
That's also why the Woz section was important for me to cover.
---
You need to read more Camus. I think you will enjoy his works.
---
Always appreciate you being carried away with my writings. We should definitely catch up over these pieces, both yours and mine, sometime soon.
Written podcasts are fun 😂
Thanks for all the answers. Will read Camus more. Other than "Mother died yesterday"
I read this essay for the first time around a month ago. I read quite a few times since then. It's undoubtedly one of the best pieces I read this year. Your main argument, different anecdotes, the flow from one story to another, and the switch to Absurdism to connect legacy, work that we do with Camus' philosophy is my favorite part of all.
Personally, I feel even Newton must have felt that his name should be written beneath the laws he discovered. Steve Wozniak must have felt that people who are using Apple I should know who created it. But zooming out to decades and centuries long duration, I believe they mustn't have thought of leaving behind a legacy... they just did what they are best at. they performed their duties.
Camus tells us to rebel against absurdism, saying that life has no inherited meaning. If the universe has no meaning, there isn't a point figuring out what's the meaning of life. But this keeps US responsible for creating meaning through our actions. Your take, that people around you notice and care about your actions even if the universe doesn't, is really a new perspective I found after reading Camus for over three years.
Last few paragraphs reminded me of the classic Karm Karte Raho Parth, Phal Ki Chinta Na Karo from Bhagwadgeeta's second chapter. I believe it fits in perfectly with your core message.
Excellent read as always, keep writing bhai!! <3