

What happened to changing the world? - rksprst
http://alexkaminski.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-happened-to-changing-world.html

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lux
"Is there something about our culture that stifles innovation?" Many people
would say yes:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Bloom#Closing_of_the_Amer...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Bloom#Closing_of_the_American_Mind)
<http://johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm>

I was just talking about this yesterday with a friend who's a labour &
delivery nurse, and she says in her experience all babies, unless there is
something wrong with them, have an innate curiosity about the world around
them (I think that's the core element of the tinkering/improving mindset). How
many people around you at 20 years old can you say that about? So that's a
quality we lose, not something we never had.

Aside from the education discussion, there are certainly people with this
drive still - it seems to me to be one of the core personality attributes of
startup creators, for example. It just seems to be a rarely found still
intact, unfortunately...

~~~
rksprst
I agree, among people my age (20s) that natural curiosity is almost completely
lost. But I think its more than just the education, I think its what our
society rewards and punishes. People who want to "change the world" have to
take a lot of risks. But yet, everything about our society (government,
education, friends) seem to frown upon taking big risks and reward living
safely with some 9 to 5 job.

For instance, there are so many pretty good programmers in my classes. Yet not
one wants to start a startup or do something significant in this world. They
all simply want to get a 9 to 5 job at a Google or Microsoft. Why? Probably
because its so much safer to work at Google than try to create the next
Google.

------
rksprst
Doesn't it seem like there are no people that are ambitious or passionate
enough to believe (and do) something "big"? At least in my age group (20 year
olds).

~~~
rantfoil
It's not particularly easy to find for people of any age. But all the more
important for you to seek out those with similar minds.

