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The most precious resource is agency

simonsarris.substack.com

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Re: The most precious resource is agency

#181

Post by rendall »

meesterdude wrote: post #178
rendall wrote: post #151

I understand this article's point, but I think it's nonsense, to be honest. It seems like it's saying something, but, really, it's not. It might even be making its readers stupider, sadly. Walt Disney, Leonardo DaVinci, Steve Jobs, et. al. had gigs at 13, so now we draw grand conclusions about how shitty kids have it today? Nah. Doesn't credit. Even accepting as given the undemonstrated premise of the article, that s…

> It seems like it's saying something, but, really, it's not This was the same takeaway I had of your comment. It reads like glenn beck. Purpose & meaning are strong motivators and I agree with the author that there is not enough focus on that to help promote agency in individuals. There are societal failure(s) to be highlighted here, despite your unwillingness to see them.

> This was the same takeaway I had of your comment. It reads like glenn beck.

Odd, this need that some people have to insult those who disagree with them.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#182

Post by roland35 »

idolaspecus wrote: post #20

My first child is due any day now and I’ve been thinking a lot about the central problems presented in this article. But I don’t know what to do about them. Should I keep my son home with me, allocate mornings to academics and afternoons to more practical endeavors? Should I teach him to cook? To garden? To build cabinets? To train a dog? To do his taxes? Should I send him to public school but supplement his learning…

Parent here with 2 boys, ages 6 and 2 :). I have some good news for you if you're worried about planning! I was wondering the same things before they were born, but it turns out that children will develop their own interests and are much happier digging into what they are interested in. The best thing you can do is help support their interests! They will also see what you are doing and want to follow along too.

Don't worry too much about planning things out, because the any grand parenting plan will go out the window once they baby arrives haha

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#183

Post by shakow »

jkhdigital wrote: post #25
overgard wrote: post #18

One of the biggest tragedies isn't just that the childhood is wasted, but that many people never learn to have agency once it is available. I'm not saying you need to start your own business or anything like that, but it seems like most people live their lives never questioning the scripts that are given to them. The basic life script we all seem to have in western society seems pretty awful when you think critically…

For all but the last ~150 years or so of human existence, meaning and purpose came almost exclusively from (1) raising a family and (2) religion. I think the cruelest tragedy of modernity is that we no longer teach our children that life can actually be quite rewarding and fulfilling outside of one’s profession.

> came almost exclusively from (1) raising a family and (2) religion

And the military, and politics, and arts, and friends, and philosophy, and sciences, ...

It's a big fat modern-times bias to imagine that our 19th century ancestors were so simplistic. Just read Zola or Dostoïevski, many characters and/or situations could be transposed nearly intact in modern times.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#184

Post by blacktriangle »

benrbray wrote: post #67
jkhdigital wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Daycare. The point is that school is, first and foremost, a daycare. All the talk about education is just marketing.

Unfortunately college puts up the same barriers. Much of the time I spent in high school learning to code was for nothing, because my university wouldn't let me even attempt to test out of the first- and second-year courses. In another instance they also wouldn't let me count a graduate statistics course for a baby-stats elective requirement. "We WoULdn'T bE an AccREdiTeD iNStiTutION if wE lEt yOU do THat!" I ended u…

Wow had the same problem with my CS department. I think part of the problem is that there was much more demand for slots in the CS department from people who were woefully unqualified but looking to make bank.

I transferred over to the maths department who welcomed me with open arms, took all my credits, and then beat the every living shit out of my brain so much harder than the CS department ever would have.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#185

Post by Aeolun »

ElFitz wrote: post #148
concordDance wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just raise them as you would a child? That could only work even in theory if you've programmed in all the innate behaviours/desires human children have. And in practice raising superintelligent children who can clone themselves and rewrite their minds is not a thing we know how to do.

> And in practice raising superintelligent children who can clone themselves and rewrite their minds is not a thing we know how to do. We could learn to. Through trial and error. Even though a too big mistake means creating a psychopathic superinterlligent child who can clone itself, rewrite turns mind and easily hack the few American ICBMs not protected by the wondrous safety of floppy disks.

Seems a bit crazy to assume we’ll jump from ‘not close to human’ to ‘superintelligent’ without going through ‘barely adequate’?

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#186

Post by Aeolun »

nine_k wrote: post #54
Aeolun wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> just to say that the script we are generally given is pretty damn good Honestly, it’s so good it’s boring. Not much challenge to life if the only thing you need to do to continue existing is plant your ass in the same chair every day.

Nobody guarantees you that chair.

True, but if you live anywhere in western Europe you have to work really hard to fuck up your life forever.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#187

Post by justinclift »

onion2k wrote: post #125
indigochill wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, if circumstances allow. Have no debt, make a software engineer's salary, and live on half of it. Put the rest in mutual funds. Repeat for some number of years and your investments' passive income eventually surpasses your budget, at which point you're free from the rat race. The part people find unpalatable (and sometimes impossible, depending on circumstances) is the "live on half of it" part (but even if h…

That's a great goal, but you're confusing simply having money with having FU money. They're not the same. The "FU" bit is important. It means something. To be honest, even your strategy there sounds tremendously flawed because you're assuming that you'll even want to live that life. What happens if you meet someone, get married, and have a couple of kids after you 'retire'? Suddenly your retirement fund is nowhere ne…

> how do you pay for your kids to go to college?

Just to point out, there are some _really_ good college's in the EU that don't cost $$$. eg:

https://leverageedu.com/blog/free-universities-in-germany/ (random page about it)

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#188

Post by overthemoon »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #26
overgard wrote: post #18

One of the biggest tragedies isn't just that the childhood is wasted, but that many people never learn to have agency once it is available. I'm not saying you need to start your own business or anything like that, but it seems like most people live their lives never questioning the scripts that are given to them. The basic life script we all seem to have in western society seems pretty awful when you think critically…

I went and did the other side, living nontraditionally and trying to be what I wanted. I just applied for a regular job. Because to be honest, it’s gonna be pretty sweet having a fat bank account, even if it’ll take till I’m 50 to have FU money. My current hypothesis is that the team is all that matters. The work can be the most boring, crud-type work. As long as you’re working with people you like on something vague…

> My current hypothesis is that the team is all that matters.

Man. One of the worst jobs I've ever had was working as a paralegal in a law office, but I had two friends there that made it so much fun. We'd send each other emails making fun of the attorneys (obviously a risk but the IT person was a friend), joking around, talking about the future, sending dumb memes and getting hammered after work.

After that, I got my first dev gig working with one of my closest friends, and it was a blast.

Now I'm working for a company doing really cool stuff, but I don't really know the people I work with and it's sort of a cold environment, and I feel like I'm stagnating. I really, really think there's something to what you said. They're not bad people, not by a long shot, and maybe something will develop, but the camaraderie I had at the law office gig was special, and I miss it.

My goals have narrowed: be a good father and husband, serve my community in whatever way I can, write fiction when I can. I think that's good. I also don't hold it against myself that I had loftier, maybe unrealistic, goals when I was younger. People change.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#189

Post by skybrian »

onion2k wrote: post #120
PaulRobinson wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just nonsense advice. The entire point of retirement savings is that at some point you can stop working. FU money is just about timing. You can change that timing. 1. Reduce outgoings. It's easier to have FU money if the amount you need to be able to say "FU" is smaller, because you've perfected the art of living on a little less than most. Most people's outgoings grow to meet their incomes: resist that. You d…

Is this not FU money yet? You're the problem, not the regular job. I think we have very different ideas of what "FU money" means. FU money is literally enough to be able to do what you want. It's being able to stop asking "Can I afford this?" because you definitely can. It's being able to stop making a choice between two sports cars because you can afford both. It's being able to buy the exact house you want because…

When I first heard the phrase, it was enough savings to quit your job without having another lined up? I guess people have different definitions.

Re: The most precious resource is agency

#190

Post by agent008t »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #26
overgard wrote: post #18

One of the biggest tragedies isn't just that the childhood is wasted, but that many people never learn to have agency once it is available. I'm not saying you need to start your own business or anything like that, but it seems like most people live their lives never questioning the scripts that are given to them. The basic life script we all seem to have in western society seems pretty awful when you think critically…

I went and did the other side, living nontraditionally and trying to be what I wanted. I just applied for a regular job. Because to be honest, it’s gonna be pretty sweet having a fat bank account, even if it’ll take till I’m 50 to have FU money. My current hypothesis is that the team is all that matters. The work can be the most boring, crud-type work. As long as you’re working with people you like on something vague…

Just curious - why/how did you decide to have kids at 29?

I can see mostly disadvantages to having children. Perhaps a nice highlights reel, but the daily grind sounds miserable. Having a cat seems like a much better deal. This sums up my sentiment: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/baby_vs_cat

You seem to have a different opinion, so I wonder if it is just a matter of preference of if your perspective is very different to mine?

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