"Float to the top, or sink to the bottom. Everything else in the middle is the churn." - Amos Burton.
33 karma · joined November 2, 2014
My hobbies were largely desk-bound/sedentary --- coding, trivia --- that I was able to carry out at a reduced pace, and resume after I cleared the exams. The pressure during the ages 15-17 was definitely quite intense --- I'd typically come home at 3 in the afternoon, and work until midnight with a few short breaks in between. However, I think I did create a narrative of what I was going through that led to me actually enjoying the reading and problem-solving (in spite of feeling stressed out). At that age, it can feel like a superpower to be given a list of chemicals and predict what structures would emerge in a chemical reaction, or be able to compute the motions of particles in an EM field. With over 10+ years of hindsight now, I feel the following ---
-- The notion of an "ideal" childhood being lost depends on how you define the ideal. (edit : There was no pressure to have a girlfriend or boyfriend at that age. No "jocks" bullying studious "nerds". The "nerds" were the "cool" kids all through in fact. ) Of course, I don't imagine that people killing themselves or burning out would count as normal in any culture.
-- I'd say the ability to slog things out for many hours of the day across weeks many is something that has stayed with me. At the same time, there are numerous great scientists and engineers who have developed this ability without having to go through this process (edit: at ages 15-17).
-- As one person in the article points out, yes, I definitely was very late to pick up many life skills that are likely second-nature to teenagers in the West.
-- While I could solve problems and apply concepts easily, it was from a shallow understanding of topics. I definitely did not develop a meta-understanding of why, say, Newton's laws are structured that way, or what consequences it has for the structure of physical laws relying on Newton's laws. These skills I had to learn much later on.
Its also not clear to me if the concentrations of fructose used in the study reflect the dynamic range of concentrations of fructose in your tissues during day-to-day life.
I do have many more questions with the issues you brought up, yes :) It was a fun discussion. Thank you! I'll contact you by email.
The bit I know about the '70s is also the US going off the gold standard, with Nixon putting the then Fed Governor, Burns, under immense pressure to keep interest rates low in the face of high inflation. Not to mention going off the gold standard altogether.
Much of my reading on economic growth has been rather lopsided on the side of monetary economics. I'm looking to pick up more on the influence of government policy such as tax cuts, etc.
With regards the '70s, you emphasized "normally" in your reply. Why was that? Weren't the '70s a time of unusually high inflation and unemployment in the US?
And thank you for the book recommendation! It looks really nifty!
Sure, the massive bond-buying program of the Fed did actively push interest rates close to zero. But, in the process, it decreased long-term interest rates too, in particular, treasuries and T-bills. This decrease allowed the government to borrow more money during auctions.
Isn't this a case for QE enhancing the government's ability to borrow? Or is my crude understanding of monetary policy all wrong?