So we have two aspects to this guy; intellectual acuteness and not taking things seriously. The not taking things seriously goes with finding it all pretty easy and a bit dull. But also it goes with realising that a lot of human activity is really pretty pointless, and when you realise that and internalise it then you become cynical and also a bit sad[...] It’s also the seed of an illness; a melancholia that can deepen in later life into full blown depression.
Another feature about this guy is his low threshold of boredom. He’ll pick up on a task and work frantically at it, accomplishing wonders in a short time and then get bored and drop it before its properly finished. He’ll do nothing but strum his guitar and lie around in bed for several days after.
[...] Now one of the things about Lisp, and I’ve seen it before, is that Lisp is a real magnet for this kind of mind.
The Bipolar Lisp Programmer. More abuse of the B-word, but worth it.
By the way, I think I have like half a dozen half-finished projects already mature enough to be published; some kind of anxiety prevents me from risking human contact. Of course they were done in Lisp whenever I could.
feed