If 'everyone' is out there 'bending the universe' to their will, well, will the universe be bent? Or just scrambled?<p>I can't help but feel this advice runs contrary to communitarian ideals, to the point that were we all to follow it, not much would get done.<p>The best Engineers I have encountered surely have 'always been learning' but it had little to do with careerism, or 'trying to shape the world', rather just plain curiosity. Outside of that they'll have had 'normal' careers, more or less satisfied with the work to be done ahead of them. Why? Because it makes them happy to be contributors, doing their jobs well, getting a decent income, possibly raising their families etc.. There is a <i>lot</i> of mundane work be done even in the most creative of environments.<p>When Steve Jobs said 'you should try to nudge the Universe forward' my first thought was 'which way is forward?' - meaning that lack of at least some kind of moral impetus (of course a very difficult, grey thing) it's hard to know.<p>It's a very self oriented treatise, specific to the accumulation of power and influence of the individual, while effectively externalizing the 'other', and of course, all those aspects of life which are not very well described in terms of 'career' , 'money' , 'power' etc..<p>I'm trying to find an example of someone doing something 'purposeful' but who also had such 'compounding' effects:
Ingvar Kamprad. Founder of IKEA.<p>He wanted to make reasonable design, available to the masses for a reasonable price, and his 'small compound rate' spread over a life seems to have built something that I think will outlast most of the FAANGs. And maybe there's some 'good' in there as well.<p>Thanks Sam, fine words for young entrepreneurs maybe, but let's try to keep this in context.<p>The world is very big, diverse, full of all types - if the Valley wants to 'win' in the next phase of evolution, it's going to have to figure out how to promote ideals that aren't just suited to the 1%, but everyone else as well.<p>Trying to do this while maintaining that creative/exceptionalism will be hard, but there's no way around it.<p>You can't be 'irreverent feisty antagonists upstarts' and 'managing major parts of the economy and influencing global affairs' at the same time.