I read that book in college and it frightened me so much. I was worried by the prospect of selling your soul in a thousand pieces. I.e. making many "compromises", which individually don't mean much, but taken together will turn you into exactly the kind of person you wanted to avoid becoming.
>Should one's younger self's ideals get to trump one's older self's values?
yes, of course. Haven't you seen Citizen Kane? Do you think Larry Page and Sergey Brin would enshrine "don't be evil" today (in fact this has been retired) - or have as a mission statement, to make all information universally accessible and useful?
would they write in a prospectus, today, as a risk;
"
Our corporate culture has contributed to our success, and if we cannot maintain this culture as we grow, we could lose the innovation, creativity and teamwork fostered by our culture, and our business may be harmed."
back in the day, every byte on Google's homepage was counted.
cf. Chrome's memory usage today.
Absolutely, young ideals trump old ideals. (Technically, ethically, culturally, etc.)
I think one of the points made by Coetzee is that the older self's values are determined to a large extent by the younger self's decisions. So the two are coupled, but not in the way you suggested.
I read that book in college and it frightened me so much. I was worried by the prospect of selling your soul in a thousand pieces. I.e. making many "compromises", which individually don't mean much, but taken together will turn you into exactly the kind of person you wanted to avoid becoming.
Should one's younger self's ideals get to trump one's older self's values?
>Should one's younger self's ideals get to trump one's older self's values?
yes, of course. Haven't you seen Citizen Kane? Do you think Larry Page and Sergey Brin would enshrine "don't be evil" today (in fact this has been retired) - or have as a mission statement, to make all information universally accessible and useful?
would they write in a prospectus, today, as a risk;
" Our corporate culture has contributed to our success, and if we cannot maintain this culture as we grow, we could lose the innovation, creativity and teamwork fostered by our culture, and our business may be harmed."
back in the day, every byte on Google's homepage was counted.
cf. Chrome's memory usage today.
Absolutely, young ideals trump old ideals. (Technically, ethically, culturally, etc.)
I think one of the points made by Coetzee is that the older self's values are determined to a large extent by the younger self's decisions. So the two are coupled, but not in the way you suggested.