#18 - Work Addiction
from Increments Hosted by Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani
Bit of a personal episode this one is! Ben learns how to be a twitter warrior while Vaden has a full-on breakdown during quarantine. Who knew work addiction was actually a real thing? And that there are 12 step programs for people who identify as being "powerless over compulsive work, worry, or activity"? And that mathematics can create compulsive behavior indistinguishable from drug addiction? Vaden does, now. People mentioned in this episode: - Andrew Wiles (look at his face! the face of an addict!) - Grigori Perelman - Terry Tao's blog post ("There is a particularly dangerous occupational hazard in this subject: one can become focused, to the exclusion of other mathematical activity (and in extreme cases, on non-mathematical activity also) on a single really difficult problem in a field (or on some grand unifying theory) before one is really ready (both in terms of mathematical preparation, and also in terms of one’s career) to devote so much of one’s research time to such a project. " - italics added) Work slavishly without sleeping or eating to send email over to [email protected].
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Chapters
- 0:00 Cold open
- 0:24 Intro: Twitter and episode preview
- 5:21 Main segment: Vaden's work addiction breakdown
- 8:09 Recognizing the addiction: dopamine and work
- 11:00 Academia's culture of overwork
- 14:49 The madness-joy dichotomy of obsession
- 18:00 Must you be manic to make breakthroughs?
- 19:02 Terry Tao: treating obsession as a job hazard
- 21:10 PhD culture and toxic work myths
- 24:04 Using relationships to enforce work-life balance
- 29:53 Practical advice for breaking the spell
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