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Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

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Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#161

Post by mrfusion »

c22 wrote: post #29
jelliclesfarm wrote: post #3

I think growing old in 1900 is diff from growing old in 2020. I don’t think these are experiences that translate well over time and place. ‘What advice would I give my younger self’ also doesn’t compute. Because that would mean that I would end up with entirely different life experience and the person giving the advice would not exist as they would have changed. In sci fi, this would be the classic causal loop/tempor…

> ‘What advice would I give my younger self’ also doesn’t compute. Because that would mean that I would end up with entirely different life experience and the person giving the advice would not exist as they would have changed. In sci fi, this would be the classic causal loop/temporal paradox time travel dilemma. Are you actually worried that speculating about your younger self might accidentally erase you from the s…

When asking this question, I assume the many worlds theory and giving advice to my past self would simply break off into a new branch. I’d still exist the same but his life might be different.

Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#162

Post by unstatusthequo »

Wear a mask. Most of the “young” I see don’t seem to care, think it won’t affect them, or are fine getting the ‘Rona because they are confident they will weather it. Help other young people learn that it’s not all about them.

Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#163

Post by lewisjoe »

jedberg wrote: post #101

No matter how you live your youth, you will probably regret it when you are older. Unless you inherit so much money that you don't have to ever work in your life. If you spend your youth having fun and enjoying your youth, then when you get to middle age you'll have wished you worked harder and saved more so you could be wealthy and comfortable. If you work your butt off in your youth and have lots of money and succe…

This is exactly what I’m afraid of. I feel I’ll regret my younger self no matter which path I take, even if I take a balanced path.

There will always be choices that I would have made that my future self will deem wrong.

How do I deal with this? Is the key to happiness when older is to just lose all memories?

Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#165

Post by caramelsuit »

Can't tell you what it's like, that would spoil the surprise. Advice: take good care of your teeth and skin. Avoid impacts, broken bones or serious strain injury. Minor injury you receive when young will become more aches and pains as you age. Keep your back strong and straight. Lift with your legs. Wear hats and long sleeved shirts when your going to be in the sun for a long time. Treat your friendships and romances seriously, the embarrassments of your mistakes will be with you for a long time. Fill your memory with as many beautiful things as you can, it makes reminiscing more enjoyable. Don't talk so much!

Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#166

Post by dasil003 »

person_of_color wrote: post #154
sizzle wrote: post #151

Ageism in tech is real. Don't act like you won't be old one day when you scoff at an older engineer's resume during the interview process. You will blink your eyes and be on the other side of the interview table in due time and be thinking the same thing my friend.

How to protect against both outcomes? Should I start learning the fancy front end framework of the week, or aggressively increase comp to FIRE?

First of all, save as much as possible. If you are young, single and making SV market rates for engineers, there is no excuse to be saving less than half your take-home.

Second, learn the business and big picture of what you are doing. A lot of engineers are inclined to go deeper and deeper technically, and indeed there is a path to riches here if you are exceptionally good and also have a bit of luck with your choice and circumstance of specialization. That said if you are lucky enough to navigate this, you will have the golden hand-cuffs as only very few companies can properly compensate and utilize such experts. Far more reliable is general purpose business knowledge, specific domain knowledge, and/or collaboration skills. Combining these things with programming skills is a super power that will give you a lot of flexibility later in life.

Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#167

Post by non-entity »

softwaredoug wrote: post #9

Don’t give too much of your life to trying to control (ie politics, other people...). How to do this is of course hard. Meditation helps me. Relationships. Balancing my consumption of news. Staying away from histrionic people that drive that anxiety (read Twitter). Taking a break from that which bothers me (developing hobbies and other interests). Even as I get older I increasingly have a sense that all attempts to c…

I really wish I could do this. SadlyiI constantly feel like if you don't try to take control, someone will take control of you.

Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#168

Post by randycupertino »

nullsense wrote: post #146
irvingprime wrote: post #72

What's it like to be old? My boss is younger than I am and is absolutely sure he knows more about my job than I do, even though I've been doing it since before he was born and he never did it at all. People on TV keep trying to sell me stuff like Metamucil, some new kind of cane or similar silly gadget, or a scam investment, none of which I want. My grandkids can't understand why I can't read things they're holding r…

I'm 32 and already starting to feel this way.

I was reading the comment and was like, hey- I'm 39 and trips to the grocery store tire me out and I REALLY look forward to naps on the couch!

Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#169

Post by Aeolun »

lewisjoe wrote: post #163
jedberg wrote: post #101

No matter how you live your youth, you will probably regret it when you are older. Unless you inherit so much money that you don't have to ever work in your life. If you spend your youth having fun and enjoying your youth, then when you get to middle age you'll have wished you worked harder and saved more so you could be wealthy and comfortable. If you work your butt off in your youth and have lots of money and succe…

This is exactly what I’m afraid of. I feel I’ll regret my younger self no matter which path I take, even if I take a balanced path. There will always be choices that I would have made that my future self will deem wrong. How do I deal with this? Is the key to happiness when older is to just lose all memories?

More like you just have to accept that two options are sometimes mutually exclusive. Like which starter pokemon you pick, except you’ll only get to play life once.

Re: Ask HN: What is it like to be old? What advice would you give to younger people?

#170

Post by justtart »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #124
chadcmulligan wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am very surprised my C (C++) skills seem to be in demand still - even seems to be a bit of a renaissance at the moment.

Once C survives 100 years, it will likely survive 1000

Yup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect
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