

The United States has been most conspicuous for one trait: manic energy - replicatorblog
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/opinion/17brooks.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

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tahirbutt
David Brooks seems like a priest here, signaling to the herds of traumatized
readers the way forward is the road that has gotten us here.

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vinutheraj
So that one can go in circles( or waves for that matter ! )

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lionhearted
"Americans work longer hours than any other people." <\- Not true.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time#Differences_among_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time#Differences_among_countries_and_recent_trends)

I'm personally in favor of working long and hard though - just not doing it
stupidly. If you program, time you spend learning a new language is "working."
Work's gotten a bad rap these days - it implies something we don't want to do.

But it's not mandated anywhere that you have to hate your work. The sweet spot
for me is doing something that I greatly enjoy, that doesn't feel like work,
that provides value to others, that I get compensated for. "Playing around for
the benefit of society and getting paid for it" - sign me up for as much of
that as I can get.

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ojbyrne
Some of the other things, AFAIK, are true. Switching jobs and moving, for
example. They're probably more important than working long hours. Flexibility,
not hard work.

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uuilly
I totally agree. I now believe that all progress in life and society is the
result of informative failures. A job that didn't work out or a company that
didn't work out are examples of such failures. The country that tries more
things faster will learn and progress more. The US leads the world in
innovation and job churn. I don't think it's an accident.

