What Impresses People?

[Martin Hash]

BSEE Graduation.jpg

It was difficult to impress me as a kid. I didn't care about sports even though I was good at them. I didn't care about movie stars or clothes. I didn't care about anything to do with the military or cars. Really, I didn't know anything about anything that other kids knew but I would read “Popular Science” cover-to-cover, and “National Geographic” was almost sacred. I had oodles of collections: rocks, bugs, books, anything with a date on it, and I studied them for fun. I'd read about kids who were like me but I never met any, and the ones in the stories were eggheads; I didn't think I was dorky? Other kids wanted to be athletes & astronauts, but I didn't have a selected career because I wanted to do everything, and I did... Eventually ending up with doctorates in medicine, law & science, plus simultaneous licensed as doctor, lawyer, engineer & accountant, the only one like that in the world, in fact. I also traveled to over 100 countries, wrote 10+ books, and wrote/produced 3 movies.

FB Backdrop.jpg

Now that, I thought when I was done, is impressive. Surprisingly though, other people seemed unimpressed, some were even downright dismissive. It got so when somebody asked me what I did, I'd say, “Oh, it's not something you want to hear about.” For a long time I wondered why something so impossible that no one had ever done it before, had so little recognition. Eventually, I asked around in a forum of people who had strong opinions & knew me well enough to answer. As usual, there were more detractors than defenders but one guy said something that struck me like a bolt of lightening: “It's like the trillion dollar debt. I can't wrap my mind around it so I just acknowledge it's real if you say it is.”

The problem is nobody knows how difficult what I did is, and there's no constituency of people who do to tell them so. People who don't know anything about baseball, or even care, are still impressed by baseball players because other people are impressed. You wouldn't know what to think, even if you suspected it was difficult, about someone who walked all the way around the world until you found out other people were impressed, and a usually envious person who would normally say something negative, won't if they know that other people would chastise their resentment.

How come doing everything doesn't have a constituency? There are one-and-quarter million lawyers, a million doctors, over 800,000 Professional Engineers, and almost 700,000 Certified Public Accountants. Presumably all of these people, and the millions more who tried but didn't succeed, know how difficult it is to obtain their license. Add to that all the people who attempted or have a PhD, and that should be at least 10 million people who could extrapolate how impossible it would be to get all 4 licenses, who would know there just aren't enough years in someone's lifetime, a 1 in a billion chance. Researching, I've only found a couple dozen other people who are even close, and no one but me has the whole kit-n-kaboodle. Probably fame plays a big part of why kids want to be football & rock stars, or maybe it's because they get all the chicks? Hmmm, now I think I want to be famous...

Juris Doctor.jpg

[Zlaxer]

Where did the thread go?

[Martin Hash]

Where did the thread go?

It's still there, this is just called the same thing in my "Martin's Minutes" topic.

[Zlaxer]

BSEE Graduation.jpgIt was difficult to impress me as a kid. I didn't care about sports even though I was good at them. I didn't care about movie stars or clothes. I didn't care about anything to do with the military or cars. Really, I didn't know anything about anything that other kids knew but I would read “Popular Science” cover-to-cover, and “National Geographic” was almost sacred. I had oodles of collections: rocks, bugs, books, anything with a date on it, and I studied them for fun. I'd read about kids who were like me but I never met any, and the ones in the stories were eggheads; I didn't think I was dorky? Other kids wanted to be athletes & astronauts, but I didn't have a selected career because I wanted to do everything, and I did... Eventually ending up with doctorates in medicine, law & science, plus simultaneous licensed as doctor, lawyer, engineer & accountant, the only one like that in the world, in fact. I also traveled to over 100 countries, wrote 10+ books, and wrote/produced 3 movies. FB Backdrop.jpg
Now that, I thought when I was done, is impressive. Surprisingly though, other people seemed unimpressed, some were even downright dismissive. It got so when somebody asked me what I did, I'd say, “Oh, it's not something you want to hear about.” For a long time I wondered why something so impossible that no one had ever done it before, had so little recognition. Eventually, I asked around in a forum of people who had strong opinions & knew me well enough to answer. As usual, there were more detractors than defenders but one guy said something that struck me like a bolt of lightening: “It's like the trillion dollar debt. I can't wrap my mind around it so I just acknowledge it's real if you say it is.”

The problem is nobody knows how difficult what I did is, and there's no constituency of people who do to tell them so. People who don't know anything about baseball, or even care, are still impressed by baseball players because other people are impressed. You wouldn't know what to think, even if you suspected it was difficult, about someone who walked all the way around the world until you found out other people were impressed, and a usually envious person who would normally say something negative, won't if they know that other people would chastise their resentment.

How come doing everything doesn't have a constituency? There are one-and-quarter million lawyers, a million doctors, over 800,000 Professional Engineers, and almost 700,000 Certified Public Accountants. Presumably all of these people, and the millions more who tried but didn't succeed, know how difficult it is to obtain their license. Add to that all the people who attempted or have a PhD, and that should be at least 10 million people who could extrapolate how difficult it would be to get all 4 licenses; who would know there just aren't enough years in someone's lifetime. Researching, I've only found a couple dozen other people who are even close, and no one but me has the whole kit-n-kaboodle. Probably fame plays a big part of why kids want to be football & rock stars, or maybe it's because they get all the chicks? Hmmm, now I think I want to be famous...Juris Doctor.jpg

I was told to hang some shit up in my office to impress our clients - going through my box'o shit - I realized I have one thing hash doesn't - a commission - It's Capt. Zlaxer, Esq. you proles

Maybe I'll go for Ph.D in CS/CE or EE some day - then it will be Dr. Capt. Zlaxer, Esq.

Somehow - I don't think clients will give a fuck.

[Speaker to Animals]

I done tolt you in the last thread.



Gianluca Vacchi has 10.2 million followers on Instagram. How many do you have?

I suggest you start doing things that actually impress people.. Upload some fitness videos. Get a yacht.

People aren't interested in what you think they are. That guy is a superstar because he is an interesting guy.

Even amongst those of us who have graduate degrees in computer science, your PhD isn't going to impress anybody. What did you publish? Did you advance the field in a big way? Every field has about 50 big names that drive it in a particular direction, and you aren't Donald Knuth or Marvin Minsky. And if you were those guys, I guarantee you wouldn't have over 10 million followers on just Instagram. You have to be interesting to the average person.

Popularity is not like collecting boy scout badges.

[Zlaxer]

Find something in human nature that all proles do - then make an app / website that exploits it - e.g., facebook, porn...etc.....

Trying to be the next Einstein is not going to get you social media acolytes.......you need to find a way to exploit prolish behavior....fucking Jerry Springer baby!

Our richest clients aren't the guys who invent the cutting edge medical imaging tech - its the guys who get patents on cheap trinkets that proles just can't seem to get enough of......


It's sad - but if you want to be famous - you have to appeal to the largest crowd - and unfortunately, that means coming up with shit fucking proles love.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Still sounds like a cry for help, Martin. You're trying too hard to inflate the importance of what you've done. If it's impressive, it will stand on its own.

Remember, cool people never actually say they're cool. Rich people (should) never say they're rich, and famous people (should) never say they're famous, unless it's self-deprecating. Humility is key.

[Zlaxer]

Still sounds like a cry for help, Martin. You're trying too hard to inflate the importance of what you've done. If it's impressive, it will stand on its own.

You're missing the intent......

[Speaker to Animals]

Find something in human nature that all proles do - then make an app / website that exploits it - e.g., facebook, porn...etc.....

Trying to be the next Einstein is not going to get you social media acolytes.......you need to find a way to exploit prolish behavior....fucking Jerry Springer baby!

Our richest clients aren't the guys who invent the cutting edge medical imaging tech - its the guys who get patents on cheap trinkets that proles just can't seem to get enough of......


It's sad - but if you want to be famous - you have to appeal to the largest crowd - and unfortunately, that means coming up with shit fucking proles love.

Porn fitness videos with gluten-free cooking and yoga.

[heydaralon]

I can bench press 360 pounds but you don't see me bragging about it on the internet. What I do is add the weight from each rep together. So 90 pounds times 4 reps equals 360. I don't want to make other people feel inadequate, so I don't talk about it much, but my gym stats are all impressive like that.