The Dream and The Long Tail

I was taking a nap earlier. Then I realised that I was tossing and turning a little too much and woke up in a rather dreamy mood, and then I realised that college life is indeed a rather dreamy phase in one's life?

You might be wondering how so. Well, think about it this way. Assume that I'll be working till I'm about 70 years old (which, at the rate things are going, seems to be a rather good assessment), that means that I'll be having at least 40 years of working life, and college is just a small speck in the total time that I will be spent in the world of computer technology. Now, as I am thinking of it, it really does sound a little sad, to have to work for more than four decades of my life.

But well, I'm happy doing things related to computer technology, am I not?

So the realisation that college is like a dream hit me rather hard. This whole place seems to be like an illusion of sorts, where everything is like this really semi-perfect world where grades are all that matters, and where people coexist somewhat peacefully because there's really nothing to be complaining about that is not outside of the system. The people we meet, the things we do, the dreams we have, the times we shared will all fade into obscurity the moment we leave this place.

A quick glance at the school magazine seems to drive home that point. Perfect pictures of almost-perfect individuals who had a small epiphany making it big while being here, or wanting to make it big and thus be here. Yup, it is a dream alright, a dream where the top 1% of the folks here take up to 50% of the fame and stuff.

Ever heard of the Pareto Distribution? No? Or how about The Long Tail? Essentially, what the Pareto Distribution and The Long Tail means, is that a significantly small percentile of the populace tends to hold the majority of whatever resource we are looking at, be it wealth, health, technology, literacy, anything. It is akin to the theory behind the Central Limit Theorem, in the sense that it is an aggregate statistice of the population. The scary thing about the Pareto Distribution is that it is so prevalent, yet by its very nature, becomes much harder to comprehend to the idea behind the Central Limit Theorem. And I have this uncanny feeling that I know full well the effects of the Pareto Distribution—I'm like many of the folks who are in college, just on that boderline between poverty and riches, the middle class folk who are always sandwiched between the two extremities, the folks who collectively own the remaining 19% of the world's economic wealth, and yet we do not even number more than 25% of the world's population.

Scary thought huh?

So by now I would have been completely side-tracked and have no clue what was it I wanted to say in the first place, having been at this for about 30 minutes with research being done at the same time for what I am writing. I guess I'll just have to give it a rest then.