I didn't become a hacker because I thought it would be an aphrodisiac. I became a hacker because I liked to make things. There are far more efficient ways of attracting mates than learning the calculus of variations. This also assumes that one is attempting to attract mates in the first place.
By the way, if you think this post refers to you, it doesn't. However, it's been on my mind after a series of random, unrelated, but similar encounters over the last two weeks. I'm grateful things like this keep pulling me out from my hyperfocus on projects and into broader, sweeping, humanistic big-picture themes about access and equity and involvement and whatever other buzzwords I'm supposed to insert into this paragraph, and it has given me a number of semi-unique viewpoints on the world that I'm certainly grateful for and all that, but I do occasionally wish I could just... not care
Appreciate your backpack if you have it, especially #43.