I'm turning 40 today! These are some things I've learned so far

Submitted by ChaTo on Wed, 2017/01/11 - 09:21

Some things I've learned during my 40 years on Earth. I'm not including scientific/technical stuff, just everyday stuff; I'm also not including skills, manners, or basic things such as speaking or reading, which I owe to my parents :-)

The list is roughly in chronological order. Years are only approximate references, none of these lessons I learned overnight, but they all changed my life.

  • 5
  • Books are wonderful
  • Programming is fun
  • Some people are idiots
  • God is a lie
  • 10
  • Science gives answers
  • Majority opinions mean nothing
  • Being different means being hurt
  • Everybody dies even the Sun
  • 15
  • Intelligence is not enough
  • A life worth living takes effort
  • Planning saves money and trouble
  • Lying is avoidable
  • Family brings great joys and great sorrows
  • Romance is tragic
  • 20
  • Romance doesn't need to be tragic
  • Some drugs are great
  • Syntactic correctness means nothing
  • Beautiful code is poetry
  • 25
  • Being permanently unsatisfied is fine
  • Good deeds are punished all the time
  • Evil deeds are rewarded all the time
  • Copyright is bad for art
  • Patents are bad for science
  • Hard work can compensate lack of talent
  • 30
  • Physical exercise is necessary
  • Nationalism is a form of hate
  • Immigration is treated as a crime
  • Animals are people
  • 35
  • Money intensifies personalities
  • Men treat women unfairly everywhere
  • People are often wrong about each other
  • Enlightenment is not a period but a process
  • Billions are essentially slaves
  • Everybody must be treated kindly
  • 40

Thanks to all for your birthday greetings :-)