Today, I’ve officially graduated college. Embarrassingly, this semester was probably the worst grades of my life. Though, there is little correlation between learning and grades, so I can take some of it in stride.
Some major things have happened to my perspective this last semester that I wanted to consider.
First, I decided to delay law school indefinitely. If I want to do law school, I want to do it more as a backup. I’ve soured on the idea of trying to advise people about how to avoid risk, and comply with rules. Although there’s something cathartic and enjoyable about winning arguments and slipping out of trouble, it’s no coincidence that my favorite show right now is Better Call Saul, as a field, it doesn’t seem entrepreneurial or innovative to create the sorts of things I want to see.
Also, more broadly, I’m not convinced that society makes a good investment when we decide on having lots of lawyers. Between things like the removal of objective standards and other things, I’m not sure the status and money associated with becoming a lawyer dominates the opportunity cost of 3+ years, and the debt associated. I’m hopeful I can skip a little bit of the grunt work in the type of work I’m doing first, and realize that if law school was the better option, I’d at least have the experience of failure to motivate me.
Second, I’ve decided to become apolitical. I don’t really think it’s worthwhile to try and convince people of topics. I still like economics, but I don’t really have the sort of emotional attachment to making sure others came to the right ideas, as I had previously thought. My cynicism about visions of a political world have undermined the internal consistency of trying to undermine things that I think are bad. The solution as individuals, is to do minor good, but spend most of one’s time doing things one finds rewarding, rather than trying to change a system that’s a black hole of attention, concern, and drains people. Finding happiness, solo, isn’t as simple as political movements, but seems more profound than I had previously thought. A lot of people who get into politics are unhappy, and from a lot of what I’ve heard, political groups take advantage of their members, as often, the worst get on top. Recently, Young Americans for Liberty had its creep of a former CEO ousted. The status and valor associated with loud, brazen, bullshit tends to get ahead in politics.
Third, Tech and startup culture is a lot of fun. There’s a lot of hope in building things, and trying to materialize innovations upon the world. Since America is a great place for innovators, it’s only natural that this sort of thing matches my personality. Nested in this idea I’ve noticed a couple things. First, genius is hard to find for achieving goals. Second, charismatic genius is uncommon, and needs backup. Systems thinkers, paired with organized people; management, is really important for things to function. I’ve learned a lot on the job, and I hope to keep it up. Tech and startup culture also comes with a set of cognitive quirks, where people are a fair bit less conformist. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m working more seriously in the future.
Fourth, I think I’m going to be more anonymous in the future. Getting off Facebook, and having a minimal social media presence is rewarding. I get the feeling I’m going to see rewards from this as social norms update. This blog is fun, but as a careerist person, I think it might be wise to go a little more anonymous. I’m still reading and thinking actively, but Straussian writing may serve an important function in the future. Having further insulation between my life, and my casual intellectual interests will be an important buffer.
If you want to keep reading my stuff, I publish often on Econlib, but it’s a little more dry and suggestive rather than declarative, compared to my more unfiltered ideas.
Isadore Johnson's Website 