I too have experienced this existential dread, and sometimes still do.
Your post triggered a multitude of responses from different people experiencing the same, each with their own set of beliefs and coping mechanisms.
I found it fascinating - thank you.
It always surprises me that we are in a minority - most people go through life without experiencing this, or wondering about this. When trying to discuss this with one of them, they are usually baffled, and truly cannot understand you. It is almost as if we're speaking different languages.
As a side note - I am wondering if there is something in common in all those who experience this dread.
I think there are a few other issues with meetings except for just fast thinking.
Some things I tend to better understand when written down. It also allows you to search for additional context which is harder to get in a meeting (it could seem as derailing the meeting).
Another thing is just timing and energy levels. You're not your 100% self in a meeting, but you can choose when to review something offline, and answer accordingly.
OTOH, I admit that meetings do spark some ideas from a back-and-forth quick exchange, which otherwise might've been missed, or would've taken long to get to.
Definitely the best comment I read on this thread.
Not sure if this was the intention, but I read it as both recognizing the original post as funny, and yet recognizing that we (as in humanity) aren't "stupid" for having this complex system, but that's just how things develop.
Having both views live together is the best take on this.
Kling's story in general, and this in particular chapter, is truly inspiring.
This led me to think that I'm not sure inspiring of what, and so made me think of whether a sense of inspiration must always be to do something, or if is it sometimes just a feeling (like being sad, happy, angry).
Thank you for this "everything for everyone" term.
I was not aware of it until now, and it perfectly explains those examples you provided.
It also explains why product managers are so focused on "personas". I guess that this, along with push-back on feature creep is a way to combat becoming "everything for everyone".
Of course that's true for small-medium companies, after a certain size it seems you welcome becoming "everything for everyone" as you're already entrenched in so many businesses.
Something I am curious about is why these things (de-platforming of websites for example) are so US-centric.
What I'm wondering is whether it is because:
1. Only US-based websites and forums get to that level of extremism that is cause for de-platforming. I find this option the hardest to believe (pretty sure there are hideous things in other countries as well).
2. The infra is mostly US-based (Cloudflare, cloud providers, etc.), they are focused or getting their attention drawn specifically to US-centric topics.
3. It happens in other counties as well, but because HN is US-centric I am hearing about the instances that are dealing with US topics.
And specifically I'm currently focusing on democratic countries, where free speech is upheld in some form (obviously government based censorship is happening in authoritarian countries all the time).
So which is it? Why am I not hearing of these cases happening to EU-based, Canada-based, Australia-based or Israel-based forums/websites (mentioning Israel specifically as I'd expect to hear about those in my local echo-chamber)?
Would love to learn about similar cases from other countries.