131–140 of 171 posts
I see this all around me. People are fixated on careers, hobbies (FOMO), spread thin by family obligations and errands. The truth is, happiness does not derive from these things. This "busyness" is an invention. Life is simple, and happiness actually derives from having cats.
This is funny because the most unhappy and anxious people I know are cat owners.
There are many things in life that cannot be simpler without losing some level of choice that we value, I'll grant that. Nobody who has ever dealt with the United States Government, or any US State government, can tell me with a straight face that the principle is absolute. Or, put another way, I'll gladly give up all the choices that lead to misery every time I deal with the IRS or DMV in exchange for things to be a…
"Hello. Welcome to the Automated DMV, Mr. Smith. Your car registration needs to be renewed. Since you're here, and we recognize you, and your car is in the parking lot, and we recognize that, too, renewal will be $122. You have three parking tickets outstanding, so we will add $150 to that. You have one red light violation, and we're sending video of that to your phone if you want to contest it. But since the face an…
Last time I renewed my drivers license, I had to visit the DPS (Texas separates licensing people and cars, so DPS is for people) three times. In person. During a pandemic. Because of failings on the part of the DPS. This is typical.
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I agree on the short timescale, but look at the longer one. like coal mining was horrible during Orwells times, and now it is difficult but much much better due to technology. Or take saturdays. I do not know about your country, but here not having to work (and not having to go to school) on saturday happened in the last 50 years; or in Singapore in the last 15 years.
The funny thing is, that horrible coal mining that technology liberated us from was part and parcel of the Industrial Revolution. Thank you technology, for saving us from the fallout of technology! Good thing this time there's no fallout.
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I remember talking to a coworker friend of mine who was a cat owner. She said that she didn't understand dogs. They just loved you unconditionally all the time no matter what. So I guess she liked the life with the cat where it was just randomly mean or not interested in her sometimes. Kind of illustrated things to me.
You gotta earn it with a cat. Dogs are for people that need the reassurance of the unconditional love Cats are for people who have the kind of levels of self-confidence that makes the unconditional love of a dog both suffocatingly annoying and suspicious.
Would you feel suffocated and suspicious from the unconditional love of your child? Its not about reassurance, its just that it is a beautiful experience in this life, and i give just as much love back to my dog.
if you view disinterested cats as the ideal relationship, I hope you can separate that from your human relationships
I agree with the quote but I am not able to reconcile it with the following observations...
1. The Unix philosophy insists on making simple tools which focus on doing just one thing and only one thing. Edit: Come to think of it, simple tools can simplify a complex process if you can compose them into a complex tool to do the job.
2. I think this also runs counter to Apple's understanding of simple too (one button mouse anyone?).
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You know what drives me crazy? All these people talking about how great technology is and how it saves all this time. But what good is saved time if nobody uses it? It just turns into more busy work, right? You never hear somebody say, "Well, with the time I’ve saved by using my Word Processor, I’m gonna go to a Zen monastery and hang out.” (Jesse)
Also applies to the very tired ”work smarter, not harder” saying: it never means working less with the time you gain but actually means ”work smarter so you can work even more”
Life is simple.. If you aim lower. There was a psychology research on how people even billionaire form a baseline similar to a homeless dude. All the stress, pressure you have is the same as everybody else and it will never change. So the goal should be do whatever you enjoy while doing the minimum effort.. Of course this type of thinking would immediately hamper progress everywhere.
> Of course this type of thinking would immediately hamper progress everywhere. Depends on the definition of progress, which as a term by itself is meaningless. More technological progress? It might hamper that. More progress towards happier and less stressed people? It might improve that - and other dimensions, e.g. environment, equality, democracy, etc.
But hey, they made a 15th iphone too and a 30th avengers film, so I guess it's all good...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Hello. Welcome to the Automated DMV, Mr. Smith. Your car registration needs to be renewed. Since you're here, and we recognize you, and your car is in the parking lot, and we recognize that, too, renewal will be $122. You have three parking tickets outstanding, so we will add $150 to that. You have one red light violation, and we're sending video of that to your phone if you want to contest it. But since the face an…
We haven't gone that far but a lot of those sort of interactions have moved online in the UK. The obvious one for me is filling a tax return at the end of the year. It's automated for all but the most cmplex of cases.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Of course this type of thinking would immediately hamper progress everywhere. Yes. Would it be a problem though? If everybody is happy with what they have, then progress is unnecessary or even harmful.
There's a ceiling to happiness, though, that's predicated on your tolerance of death and suffering around you. You can't punch through it without advanced technology. But I guess people could instead live their lives stoned on their local mushrooms to achieve the same feelings of happiness.
> Why Life Can’t Be Simpler Because of the politicians and lawyers with their complicated, convoluted laws.