Cave painting, you raise good questions.

I graduated after 4 years of college with degrees in physics and math. In college I became interested in philosophy so I took several years off from science to pursue these interests. Eventually I returned to graduate school and obtained a Ph.D. in mathematics and over the next 20 years applied mathematics and computer science to multiple applications in academics, government, and the private sector. After many years of looking for an area where I could apply interesting mathematical ideas and also do some good, I became quite cynical on the current state of science and technology and am quitting my current job to travel a bit and figure out what the next step will be. Perhaps organic farming? Building yurts? Dunno.

It is good you are thinking about your issues but you'll probably have several careers in your lifetime so don't think you have one and only one chance to get it right. Studying science or technology will likely be a good investment for the future but be very cautious about accumulating debt from studying something like "art history" which may be interesting but will make it very difficult to find work. Also, be very cautious about having a family, especially early in life, as this greatly limits your options.

My general advice would be to live a simple life, avoid consumerism/materialism and only buy things that will give you long lasting enjoyment, stay out of debt, exercise and eat well to avoid healthcare expenses, and invest in your human capital by learning multiple skills and disciplines.

Live with the realization you will not live forever so you must intelligently balance living for the present with investing for the future.

eH

Thanks so much for the advice friends. New perspectives are refreshing.
Empty Hand, could you elaborate on why you have become cynical on the current state of science and technology? I speculate it has to do with funding and grants?

My 'path' of classes is supposed to help me transfer to the Genetics and Plant Biology department at Berkeley, but as Awakened mentioned, one step at a time, first have to complete my last final tomorrow.

I am terrified of settling into a monotonous, meaningless job; I do want to do something that will make a difference, just have to find where I am most apt to help.

Maybe I will move to Europe later, currently I live in the Southwestern United states, but because both my parents were born in the UK, I have citizenship, so that is always an option. I plan on traveling there this summer as I have a lot of family in the Uk, maybe I'll see some fellow nexians haha.

Cave,

My cynicism is about the current practice of science and NOT science itself. It comes from repeatedly encountering the following things:

1. many published results are FALSE due to incorrect data analysis.
2. multiple publications involving small changes of the same mediocre idea.
3. exaggeration of the significance of one's ideas or results for personal gain.
4. majority of time spent chasing grants.
5. fake modeling (for example in quantitative finance) where people overlook the unacceptability of our "best" model
6. intellectual laziness
7. feeding the materialistic and consumer culture (i.e. feeding the public's gadget addiction).

eH

I'm studying archaeology at university, best choice ever.

Includes ethnobotany and environmental science, anthropology, travel, military history (a hobby), survival skills (aka experimental archaeology) and LOTS of outside time (field work)!

There's still enough spare time to play music, and you occasionally go to places where there are fields of wild cannabis. Dream job.

I hated high school so I dropped out and got my GED. But then a few years later I went to college ( night school.) It was hard but I loved it and had a 4.0 average. Worked the night shift for many years in machine shops.
I always had a great interest in computers and computer controlled machinery...ie cad/cam systems, so with the many years of machine shop experience I had, the two sort of came together.
So now I teach cad/cam software for many corporations around the USA.
I've been very lucky the way things have turned out. I think the most important thing I did was getting a bit more education attending night school as well as watching for better jobs and jumping at the opportunity for a better job when I was younger. I had a few friends who were content to stay at the same job for too many years who are now either unemployed or have crap jobs because that's what they settled for.
I think if you just keep trying a little harder all the time, that over the course of time there may be a payoff if you're also lucky. Look for opportunities and appreciate them when you get them. People love to help you grow if you show them appreciation for it! You are much the source of your own success in this regard. ( sorry about sounding like a fortune cookie...lol...)

Always felt I sold myself out by changing course midway through college and avoiding the more difficult science and tech courses..which I have always felt would have prepared me for a variety of very interesting careers as well as insulating me against obsolescence. So instead, I "got by" with much easier material, "applied numerology" aka finance and accounting. My career since graduation took place therefore in fields such as banking and real estate which have not been particularly interesting, but it has paid the bills so to speak. It has, however, been a struggle to stay ahead of being replaced by a computer. But anyway, most of that is now in the past and my wife and I run a tourism-oriented business that is also paying the bills and much easier on the psyche than banking ever was. It also gives me the time to study and reflect on many things that really matter to me, such as the things we discuss here.

One more thing ... several responses have already said this, and it is incredibly important: do NOT go into debt. College loans may be one thing (as long as you're studying something that can employ you later), but credit cards and consumer loans are something else altogether: avoid them like the plague, they can ruin your life faster than it takes a toke of spice to set in.

You rule, House. No matter what I end up doing with my life, I can guarantee you I'll always be spreading the light as much as I possibly can. I feel like it's my obligation to humanity, considering what seemingly miraculous changes certain chemicals have enabled me to accomplish.

As for the answer to the topic question, I'm currently studying anthropology at a university. Barely a day goes by though that I don't wonder if this is really for me. Do I really want to be a part of this system I feel so compelled to destroy? No, I don't think that I do. The only reason I'm still in school is because there are interesting things to be learned. The structure, though, and the people here, all seems like too much to handle at times.

My specific field of focus however is cultural anthropology. I'm interested in -- you guessed it -- shamanism! Taking a class next semester on religious ecstasy, can't wait.

Right now I am just a warehouse boy in a carpet store. So I roll carpet, clean bathrooms, ect. But I don't mind, and my co-workers a hoot! My last job was a sales employee of a health food store, which was awesome because I learned SOO much about different herbs and health that i had no idea about before.

But I am also going to college to major and botany and hopefully minor in anthropology. Ethnobotany, here i come!

Just? Glad you enjoy your job but you don't say to a dinner lady or a janitor oh your just a, insert shit job here, quite condescending! I've worked my fair share of shit jobs and made me realise I wanted a better job but a lot of manual labour is good for the body and mind. I hate snobbery towards people who do unskilled work, not saying you are at all but the world needs carpet factory's and you go to a third world country and the most simple "unskilled" people can also be the kindest and wisest people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting!

My ex's family were so materialistic , she wasn't but they were so career minded and bloody boring, they would say things like oh aren't you going for promotion? I would say I could do without the stress, I could be a manager at my job and earn a lot more money but I'd rather a stress free life and when I would say that they would look dissapointed or look at me as if I was a failure, well I have a lot more happiness than them and aren't on any anti-depressant drugs which seem to go hand in hand with our materialistic "carreer minded" culture, sorry went on a bit of a tangent, i know you werent intending to be condescending but it could be to a full time carpet factory employee! Some people define themselves by the job they do and I feel sorry for people like that, my goal is to work as little as possible! Lol

Currently studying mathematics and physics. This has been my passion for many years, starting in my first year at college. It just goes deeper and deeper for every day, and it gets more and more exciting. Mathematics is the pure art, physics is the art of applying it to answer deep questions about the universe. It's beautiful =)

Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? How many grains of sand are there in our solar system?

To be honest, I don't know, Purges. We can all find subjective meaning in life, which is important, but from an objective point of view we can't honestly answer the question of what is the meaning of life (not yet anyway). Some may say the meaning of life is to reproduce from the perspective of biology, yet others may say that life has no objective purpose, it just goes along governed by all of these laws and unconscious processes.

It often seems that the last answer there is what we receive from science, because what we see is that we are here because of this long chain of events that one could write several books about, whereas all of these processes do not carry with them conscious intent. But we can only trace the why's so far, because we reach a point where we simply cannot answer the why's anymore, so we're stuck. I could go on and write about all the processes from the Big Bang up until now and say that this is why we're here, but it doesn't really answer the question, does it? Science can offer lots of insights and perspective that only partially answers these deep questions, and it is a really thrilling and beautiful ride to learn about all the processes that have led up to this moment, but I can't in all honesty tell you that I know why we are here on the basis of this. Perhaps one day we can answer it, or perhaps we never can. As for now, all we can do is find our own purpose and keep investigating the universe to see what we can uncover from this ridiculous mystery that is existence.

As a last note, perhaps the whole question of why doesn't even make sense in the grand scheme of things, akin to asking what lies north of the northpole. This suggestion has certain bearings in that the question of why seems only to arises in our mind, and is not inherent elsewhere in Nature. Nature, from the perspective of science, just goes along with no inherent purpose. Thus far, this is what we see.

Well, if the Universe originates from a state where time doesn't have any existence yet, then I don't see how a purpose could exist since purpose is dependent on cause/consequence; is dependent on time and movement.

...

As for myself, I am a fine art student, want to be a painter (surrealist/visionary/lowbrow/abstract). I know it's not gonna be easy financially, but I'm motivated to pursue my goals and get recognized for what I do (the only way to survive if you are a painter).

While I'm studying, I am also presently working in a local Psy/Hempshop where we sell tons of weed products and even some ethnobotanics. It's a good student job and the first job of my life that doesn't make my bothered when I have to wake up and go to work.

Very true infinite! I really meant no harm by saying "just". I meant it more in the same way one would say "I'm just taking a nap." Im glad you know i had no intention of coming off that way, by I understand how it could be taken the wrong way. I love my current job, and I have learned so much. A heck of a lot more goes into these kind of "just" jobs that people think, and i don't know if the can be fully appreciated until you have actually had one of those jobs. Let me rephrase...

"I am a carpet warehouse boy!" (Said loud and proud)

Nice thread

LOL at Awakened's "take the third toke" And good advice on the planning part.

Also I resonated with what EmptyHand said about living a balanced healthy life, well said!

And thanks house (and all others) for sharing your story!

Im by profession an educational psychologist, been working in different contexts, working on helping kids develop critical thinking through activities and educational plans. When I first started studying psychology I didn't have much idea on what to do except I found the mind fascinating after my psychedelic experimentations. I came to find that clinical psychology is not what I wanted to do, I've always had criticism to the certain limits or contradictions of different theories (and yet also the strenghts and good aspects of many of them which i could use beneficially). I also thought the real impact of it was often doubtful.

So I questioned myself "what do I want to achieve with this life?" and "how can I give a good lasting contribution to this planet, do my part well with the potentials I was given?¨ . So I decided to work on myself to, till the day I die, keep learning and trying to better myself, be more sustainable, and at the same time work through education and giving tools for others to develop themselves. Specially with kids I've seen how it's easier to give them a good influence, a base, help them learn how to think and question, instead of to memorize and repeat. This can serve them for all their lives, and hopefully spread to their close circles. The natural process to develop themselves is already there, it's only that schools tend to shut that down through creating a lot of unnecessary stress with the pernicious testing/grade system, the bad role models that many teachers are, and the lack of some essential cognitive and meta-cognitive tools which should be developed but are replaced with silly memorizing of quickly outdated and arbitrary information.

My aim is to one day open up a school, have knowledge and experience enough (and a good team and partners) to develop a very thorough curriculum that helps kids development themselves truely. I expressed a bit of this in the education thread, feel free to contribute

At the same time im doing some collaboration in a drug analysis, education and harm reduction organization, which is very interesting and im learning a lot! I hope with this I can also contribute to the nexus community.

In any case as its been said before in this thread, you should really try to find what you enjoy, and even if that doesnt get you plenty of money, as long as its paying the modest bills and you are happy, thats what matters. If you do what you like, there's more chance you do it better and keep trying to improve and have more chance to really live from it, than if you do something just because of the money, that might cost your vital force along the way and you will possibly not do it good at all. But of course, there are as many paths as there are people, so only you can find for yourself what to do. One's path can involve also working in things that are unrelated and maybe "bad" or boring or not fulfilling in the long term, like house and others expressed in this thread, but at the same time as long as you learn from it and can move on and use your experience to make you stronger, it can be good.

I do freelance programming and some web design work. I get to be picky about who I work with and it pays the bills. I also went back to school to get another degree, so I keep fairly busy.

I've loved computers even longer than I have loved psychedelics so it works out pretty well. I don't think it really matters what you decide to do as long as it makes you happy. It really is trial in error, most people don't just fall into a career they love.

I don't care to much about money or material things, so as long as I make enough money to pay my rent and eat I am happy.

I've found if you do have to settle for work you don't particularly enjoy, it is better to do it in a part of the world (country) you do enjoy.

House, sincere vibes of admiration were had.

Endlessness, Citta and others, congratulations for building a career you love. And courage and respect to everyone who hasn't been able to do that so far, yet shared it with us. Keep on fighting.

As for myself, I work as a film editor. Currently, I also teach in college.

To cave paintings, when I was a kid I wanted to be a paleontologist. I was aiming to life sciences, but after high school I went through a pragmatic stage, pressed by financial worries, and went to engineering college - only to quit, bored to death, a few months after starting. For reasons too complex to mention and stay on topic, I followed another of my interests, decided to learn how to tell stories and ended up in film school. I've been working in the industry for over a decade now, and slowly, I've managed to bring into my job contents that I sincerely enjoy. My only professional aspiration now is helping to make people feel things and know things that are worthy to be known and felt. That, and paying the bills.

Much good advice has been given already. My experience in particular says this:

- Never be afraid of screwing up. Very few things in life are irreversible, paths can be undone if you find yourself in an undesired place. Just try to make always new mistakes, there's already too much people repeating the same one again and again. And make them by yourself.
- Try not to need much, in a materialistic sense. The less things you need to get, the less money bound you are, the more free you will be.
- Get around people you enjoy. A job less fancy but with better workmates will make you happier.
- Whenever your job doesn't give you what you want, put that in your life in other ways.

Keep in mind this:



And good luck