Unfortunately it isn’t as simple as that. His social troubles made him withdraw into mathematics. If he would have got a girlfriend in his school time he might have spent less time with math.
If he would have got a girlfriend in his school time he might have spent less time with math.
You say that like it’s his fault that he didn’t try and get one. The whole point of his comment is to explain why that’s not the case.
Secondly, yes, there is some tradeoff between cultivating a romantic relationship and pursuing outside interests. But even rare and fleeting romances, if pursued from a position of secure social standing and self-esteem, would’ve been far preferable to what Scott actually got, which apparently was bad enough to make him wish for meds that would suppress his sex drive.
No, I didn’t say that it’s his fault. The main point is that if your goal is raising productivity of intellectuals it’s not clear that getting them girls is helpful.
Unfortunately it isn’t as simple as that. His social troubles made him withdraw into mathematics. If he would have got a girlfriend in his school time he might have spent less time with math.
You say that like it’s his fault that he didn’t try and get one. The whole point of his comment is to explain why that’s not the case.
Secondly, yes, there is some tradeoff between cultivating a romantic relationship and pursuing outside interests. But even rare and fleeting romances, if pursued from a position of secure social standing and self-esteem, would’ve been far preferable to what Scott actually got, which apparently was bad enough to make him wish for meds that would suppress his sex drive.
No, I didn’t say that it’s his fault. The main point is that if your goal is raising productivity of intellectuals it’s not clear that getting them girls is helpful.
There the Xkcd comic about Debian developer productivity: http://xkcd.com/306/