The "winners" in modern society are mostly long-term slaves of delayed gratification.

The operation of society's machinery is built on a huge lie: your anxiety stems from not trying hard enough. In reality, this anxiety is malicious code embedded by the system to maintain high-efficiency output. It诱导你用健康的实体，去兑换那些被高估的虚构资产（学区房、职级、毫无意义的社交货币）。

When you decide to "backward compatible" or "retreat" to third or fourth-tier levels, you are actually "shorting" this bubble-filled market. You sell off the "face" — a high-debt asset — and buy "time," a hard currency.

The top-level game isn't fighting in the red ocean, but flipping the table and redefining the rules of winning.

If you don't need their applause, you can't be controlled by them. The essence of freedom is the ability to be completely immune to others' evaluation systems.