If you, like a lot of the startups outthere , are going ot make another better shopping, better video sharing, or better... whatever service/product then by all means, do that. But I bet you nobody who ever did anything original did that first. Because by definition if you want to come up with something new and different, people will invariably say No until they can actually touch it and feel it. After that they may or may not say yes, but definitely not before.
molecular biology has been dead for years now, but the amount of money poured into it makes it impossible to publish its death certificate.
Here is why and how it happened (among other things):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0b11S1FjXY
I've done this kind of thing most of my career, including doing it for NASA and Unilever Research. You can't really train an average graduate to do this. You need someone with a pretty highly developed integration between 1:intuitive/creative abilities, 2:mathematical/analytical skills, and 3:engineering/ability to make things happen. Add to that 4:work experience in the real world, and 5:ability to easily understand how things work in a field you delve into for the first time... And there's very few people in the world who can do this.
At my previous work place we tried for a whole year to hire someone who would at have at least some of these skills and seems promising to develop the rest on the job. We couldn't find anyone although we interviewed about 30 different people (from about 500 resumes most of them with a PhD in ML from a good university). And this was in central London, UK.
Personalization is not good for you, or anyone else. Only marketing dummies believe in it because they don't understand it but it makes them sound interesting.
When you are an old man, most people will use technology ubiquitously. Most of them will not understand how it is made and what makes it tick. Those who will, will be considered wizards.
Your post was inspiring. Especially the title. I can relate having learned everything by myself. I also got a degree, and was asked to stay for a PhD but I declined wanting to make things happen rather than just study them. I am being called 'doctor' anyway by my clients, who are all Phds but they outsource the most difficult (as in we have no freaking idea how to wrap our head around this problem) to me. Even worked as a contractor for NASA if that means anything. It's not about the degree or what you have done. Everything we end up doing is to just prove ourselves that we can do it. The only reason you have to do your 'shit' ideas is to build up confidence and get more inspiration. When you are ready, your big idea will come to you. It is with you already but you can't see it, because you are not ready to look up that high. My feeling is that you will progress quickly. So stay in touch with that feeling of the big idea you are here to do, while learning as much as you can on your job, and work as much as you can on you side projects. They are the steps you need to climb to your big one. And know that you are carrying the big one with you. Also know that people will see that and as long as you don't claim it for yourself, will try to use it (and you) for their own purpose. So value yourself, you would not feel inspired if you did not have it in you. And post more inspiring articles :)
Unless we learn to live harmoniously with each other on this planet, why should we expand to other planets ? To perpetuate the same cycle of justified violence on ourselves and everything else?
Look what happened to the Native Americans and all other indigenous populations, cultures, countries, when people brainwashed by a culture of greed and religiously, scientifically (eugenics), and more recently 'humanitarianlly' justified violence got in there to take their resources.
Is this way of life worth preserving? Maybe there is something better, maybe a self-sustaining, thriving way of life that is in harmony with nature and doesn't need continuous conquering, colonization, resource raping and pillaging in order to be maintained would be worth exploring first, before we think about jumping ship?
Maybe all this apocalyptic stuff is all BS, and it is just a sign we need to change something in the way we live, rather than we need to jump ship?
The problem is some people would like us to not change at all, or to change such that they can maintain or even increase their power and privileges (see carbon tax scam). This is where the problem lies.
The only thing we need right now is to wake up and separate wheat from chaff, inquire into ourselves, find our own truth of who we are and what we are doing here, and reject all theories imposed by any so called 'authority'.
Forget about space exploration for now, it's just another distraction.
Inner (and outer) truth is what we need right now.
Your comment sounds like a wordier version of "we should stop exploring space and solve all the problems on Earth." It doesn't sound any more compelling when you use more words to say it. We can continue to push our boundaries while working on improving things.
Nope,
I'm not saying anyhting against space exploration. On the contrary. I actually did work as a contractor for NASA, and it was a dream of mine to work there.
But I do have a problem with going there as an escape from the mess we can't face at home, and to rob and pillage some more - a pattern so common to our culture.
