Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: The idled workaholic

Author:Jacob Levy
Posted:3/5/2000; 10:05:04 AM
Topic:The idled workaholic
Msg #:15409 (In response to 15405)
Prev/Next:15408 / 15410

We're getting a bit far from the original topic here. Mark Cuban comes across as a person who is afraid to get your germs, if he can't talk to you from a distance he's not interested ("can't conceive of" is the phrase that stuck in my head). I don't know if it has anything to do with being filthy rich. I think Mr. Patterson is trying to make out that it does. Buying a team seems like a poor substitute for the rush I get out of solving a cool bug, but that's probably just me :)

See my answers below to your good questions. The top-line of this is that for me, personally, money is not the reason I do things. I suggest we all dig a bit deeper. I know where my drive comes from -- the need for approval, achievement, love. "See! I did this cool thing, won't you please love me?". Is it the same for you with MacBird?

What would you do if tomorrow morning you woke up and found that you were worth $1 billion?

I'd pay off my debts (;-) on the house, car, stereo, etc. Seriously, I'd own up to my spending. What to do with the rest? I'd keep enough to be comfortable and give the rest away as fast as I could.

This is possibly why I haven't made a $1 billion yet :).

What if you had been working all your life to get rich, and then you were? What would you do?

Ah, I see the trap you're laying for me :). Maybe you don't see it yourself, even.

I have never been, and never will be, working to get stinkin' rich. I'm working on stuff that interests me and also pays the groceries. It's a compromise. I am utterly unsuitable for a startup because the usual carrots they dangle utterly demotivate me. I find greed disgusting and stupid. :)

Seriously, if you start out thinking "Hey, let me do this cool doodad, I'll be rich tomorrow" then you automatically have to ask yourself "what now" when it happens.

So, if I won the lottery (I don't play, so the chance of that is lower than one to a quintillion :), nothing would change except for me working real hard to get rid of it all.

Would you be happy?

Probably not more or less than before. Actually, yes, a little happier because I wouldnt owe a dime. But fundamentally, no.

Would you keep striving?

You bet.

What for?

To put a dinner on my family's table at the end of the day, and have fun in the process. IOW, I honestly believe nothing would change for me.

If, OTOH, I were somehow to luck into writing something as cool as Linux, I guess my need for approval would be met and I'd stop worrying about it :).

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