Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish (2005)

It’s interesting that for how successful Jobs was, there really aren’t many young people who seem to emulate his life path. The guy went to an extremely unorthodox college, took some “impractical” courses like typography, dropped out, and basically lived a hippie-esque existence until Apple worked out.

This seems to me like the opposite of the typical ambitious young person’s plan today, over filled with extracurriculars, prestigious degrees, and well-worn paths to success. You’d think that Jobs’ success would lead to more people trying to emulate his roundabout path, at least superficially.

Maybe you could make the argument that Jobs was just too unique to serve as a role model for everyone else. And the labor market is a lot different today vs. back then. But I do think that his apparent lack of institutional hyper-optimization contributed to his success in a fundamental way.

I think this philosophy is leading us to the realm of hungry ghosts - a hell realm in Buddhism where craving is everpresent and satisfaction and contentment aren't to be found.