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Comment by toybek | Hacker News Reader

>Should people with passion be forced into pursuing careers that utilize their talents better? No way.

I agree with that statement but what you're saying is Peter Parker should not be forced to be a Spider-Man or Bill Gates should waste his billions on parties because he likes to party.

I'm not trying to sound socialist it's just the world would be a much better place to live if people with power and talent really took responsibility and made a good choice.

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Generally people with extreme gifts or talents (and specifically the 2 examples you mentioned) find passion in their skillsets so the argument that they should do that anyways is somewhat unnecessary. And the ones who don't most likely have legitimate mental issues that would prohibit them from contributing at a consistent level. Of course there are deviations, but physchological studies have more than adequately shown the large deviation of mental stability in truly gifted individuals.

My argument is made for "normal" people.

And I don't think your opinion falls in the realm of socialism, fyi.

> physchological studies have more than adequately shown > the large deviation of mental stability in truly gifted > individuals

This is a common misconception. If, for example, one looks at physicians as a group (the occupational class with the highest so-called IQ), they are in general more stable and mentally healthier than the rest of the population.

If one ventures into the realm of savants, then those people are, by definition, not normal, so anything goes. But they are small in number.

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