I dunno. I'm on the older end, but nowhere near 90, and I've read a lot of these takes, and heard similar from a lot of older people in my lives. While there are good thoughts, often they come from people who didn't do that in their lives and achieved great things because they weren't chasing peace, but chasing success, status, adventure, and the such.
When I read something like this now, I ask if the person writing it lived that way most of their lives, or lived some other way and now are looking back wishing they had lived another (untested) way. I've heard too many old people tell me things like, "appreciate your family" when they were always gone working and built up an amazing life for their families. When my mother told it to me, I believed it because that's the way she lived.
Survivor bias, is what it comes down to. Beware successful people that tell you platitudes!
You could ignore where it came from and evaluate it on its own merits. I had no idea who Packard was - initially i thought it was Packard of hp fame (lol). And I did not entirely agree with some things in the piece. However, it seemed authentic (not ai generated), was brief, and provoked some reflection which is what I expect from any reading.
100% this. It's so bad in my experience that you should basically never listen to someone successful. While there are going to be exceptions, most of the time they either give you a wishlist as you mention, or completely misunderstand what happened.
When I read something like this now, I ask if the person writing it lived that way most of their lives, or lived some other way and now are looking back wishing they had lived another (untested) way. I've heard too many old people tell me things like, "appreciate your family" when they were always gone working and built up an amazing life for their families. When my mother told it to me, I believed it because that's the way she lived.
Survivor bias, is what it comes down to. Beware successful people that tell you platitudes!