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Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

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Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#41

Post by deepnotderp »

tmnvix wrote: post #35

For me, there are a couple of motivations: 1) Financial freedom and security. Aside from ensuring material needs this is important because it provides a good foundation for autonomy - an important part of self-fulfilment. 2) The means to make things happen. I don't want to own things or show off. I do want to facilitate things that I think will be beneficial to people I care about (e.g. help a friend or relative star…

Ding ding ding.

Couldn't care less about fancy cars and houses. I want to push processor speeds forward by an order or two of magnitude, and to make that happen I need funds.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#42

Post by r0brodz »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #40

We are hypnotized by a few key beliefs which contradict our nature and reality: - that we are separate/isolated from the rest of humanity - that we need to be self-sufficient in order to survive - that money has real value - that without money we don’t have value - that almost everything can measured in money - that making more money is better - that exploitation is ok and doesn’t influence us I disagree that the tri…

Excellent. I totally agree.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#43

Post by mc32 »

I don't know if the assumption that people buy only luxury with their excess money and moreover that the spending of excess money is bad.

If you had millionaires and billionaires who lived frugally it would mean no demand for goods and services you and I and most people contribute to. That they can invest in ideas means other people get to work pursuing those ideas.

If we didn't seek to be rich (or even wealthy)and we were all just getting by with "living wages", in the first place, we would still be in a place where there was low demand for things and there would be little spare money to do non-essential things. It'd like living in 1980s India or China or Indonesia.

On the other hand, frivolous consumption is a problem (disposable thises (these?) and disposable thats (those?) contribute to environmental damage.

That said, the best thing we could do is slow pop growth to replacement levels rather than growth. That means educating poor people everywhere and getting them on contraceptives.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#44

Post by r0brodz »

mc32 wrote: post #43

I don't know if the assumption that people buy only luxury with their excess money and moreover that the spending of excess money is bad. If you had millionaires and billionaires who lived frugally it would mean no demand for goods and services you and I and most people contribute to. That they can invest in ideas means other people get to work pursuing those ideas. If we didn't seek to be rich (or even wealthy)and w…

Sure I agree too with the basic supply and demand.

Its: "disposable this and that". :)

Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#45

Post by sunstone »

Money plays the part in modern life that food used to play on the plains of Africa. You need it to survive and in the past food could not be kept for long. You had to continually be on the lookout for more, it was fundamental to survival.

It was easy enough for people to substitute money for food as the critical thing we need to survive. It's not as easy to give up the instinct of getting more of it everyday.

And why should it be easy? This behaviour meant life or death for millions of generations.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#46

Post by conwy »

imesh wrote: post #28
aianus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't you do this now? Three months of software contract work is more income than 99% of the planet earns in a year.

Not saying he couldn't do it now, but 99% of the planet lives in undesirable situations.

Undesirable from our perspective perhaps, but also not quite the same, or as bad as, what we might imagine.

See this website: dollarstreet.org.

Looking at the photos of some of the poorest places, I suppose they're undesirable from my perspective now, but if I moved there and lived there long enough and adapted, I could see myself finding contentment with less.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#47

Post by conwy »

jamocon wrote: post #39
ajeet_dhaliwal wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in London and do not understand how you could possibly manage on 12k a year unless you live with your parents or own your home outright and pay almost no bills and/or barely leave the house. You says it’s not luxury but I’d say it’s barely a step above poverty, how can you manage and what part of London do you live in? You must have to watch every penny and it must totally miserable or I just don’t understand…

Just because you don't understand how something is possible, doesn't mean it's impossible ;). I'm single, I have no Children. My share of rent is 400/m, chuck on ~100 for utilities. I live with 3 others. It's north west London, around a half hour - 40 minute commute by train into central. I leave the house every day. I wouldn't agree that it's "barely a step above poverty" as I grew up in poverty and I've probably ne…

Peanuts are fucking awesome. 45p buys you 1200 calories worth, and they're packed with nutrition. I'll take a few handfuls of peanuts over an overpriced refined sugar-laden piece of crap any day.

Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#48

Post by conwy »

andrei_says_ wrote: post #40

We are hypnotized by a few key beliefs which contradict our nature and reality: - that we are separate/isolated from the rest of humanity - that we need to be self-sufficient in order to survive - that money has real value - that without money we don’t have value - that almost everything can measured in money - that making more money is better - that exploitation is ok and doesn’t influence us I disagree that the tri…

So how does one not become homeless without money?

Re: Ask HN: Why are we addicted to getting rich?

#49

Post by AnimalMuppet »

The thing is that money stands for everything else.

What do you really want? Security? Money can get you that (within limits). Identity? Money can get you that, too (again, within limits). Experiences? Money can get you those (pretty much without limit). To not have to work? Money can get you that. So no matter what you want, it's pretty easy to convince yourself that you could have that, if you only had money.

> What amount will make you satisfied?

Legend says that, when asked how much it took to be satisfied, John D. Rockefeller said, "Just a little bit more". He was the first billionaire, and the richest person in his day. If it took more for him to be satisfied, well, you're never going to have enough money to get there.

Now, as I said, this story is legend (so far as I have been able to determine). Still, the problem is that real satisfaction doesn't come from money. The best you can hope for is to have enough to provide for your needs and at least some of your wants. That's as good as it gets, because beyond that, more money doesn't seem to increase happiness/satisfaction.

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