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Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

#171

Post by v-erne »

haihaibye wrote: post #143
deltaonefour wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be. The child lasts far beyond 20 years and within that time frame there will be ups and there can be downs. Really bad downs. A child can grow up to hate you, be your enemy, become a criminal, become addicted to drigs. It is not a guarantee for happiness. Statistically speaking though, when measured scientifically people in general are actually found to be overall less happy with kids. This is the scientifi…

There are multiple types of happiness, eg present short term mood vs overall life satisfaction. In your study parentd give a lower 1-10 ranking when asked how they feel in a particular moment, on random timers. When cleaning up shit of someone you love, sure it sucks at that particular moment but your life's full of meaning.

I'm not sure I buy that - Humans can create meaning out of everything - You do not need children for that (there are some that spend years meditating in literal caves and claims that their life is also full of meaning).

So given that we can have two persons with life full of meaning, one of which is feeling down most of the time, and both of them somehow selected this life for themselves - its not quite hard to point at not having children as a better way of life. I speak of course from the point of view of me/solicity - others should have as many children as it is required to keep my precious useless stuff mass produced overseas to keep numbing consumptionism continuing until nothingness takes me back.

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

#172

Post by spansoa »

dusted wrote: post #156

Being in the zone, whatever form it might take. To me, the zone is any situation that makes the baseline pain of being alive go away (there's too much to unpack here, so I won't). Things that can bring me in the zone: * Riding my Honda CB750F, especially without a destination, just moving through the world in this raw, old-fashioned way liberates my mind and puts me at such ease. * Coding something I like.. Again it'…

> Being in the zone

> This is probably my favourite thing in the world, but also most difficult for me to achieve

Came here to say this. For me I have to coax creativity and serendipity, it doesn't happen naturally. Action precedes motivation.

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

#173

Post by AH4oFVbPT4f8 »

stuntkite wrote: post #131
nurettin wrote: post #19

Before 40: Discovery, revelation, the raw power of knowledge and provess. After 40: A calm place, peace of mind, simple joys.

I'm almost 40 and I can see that being true. Can you elaborate more on what that transition was like and how you noticed that what makes you happy had changed?

I'm 43 and I've found that while I love video games, the amount of effort required to learn a new game until some type of reward feedback is triggered is tiresome. I find that just being in the peace and quiet or watching a show especially one I've seen before with the wife is wonderful.

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

#174

Post by v-erne »

mrelectric wrote: post #149
deltaonefour wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Once you're a parent you can never not be a parent again, not even in a hypothetical multiple-worlds time-travel scenario. This is not true at all. It's not a logical answer. Based of what you just said above, I believe you are being honest but I believe your biases are creeping into the answer and therefore cannot trust it. I'm sorry. The reason is because if you erased your memory of being a parent with time trave…

> "Once you're a parent you can never not be a parent again" without clearly elucidating the logic behind it? It's a simple sentence. Your comments feel tiresome and pushy. Once you're a parent you can never not be a parent again because that kid is simultaneously a part of you, potential manifestation of all your dreams and hopes that you can't or won't accomplish, they're your friend, companion, confidant. They're…

>> potential manifestation of all your dreams and hopes that you can't or won't accomplish

And this is how You get tiger moms ladies and gentlemen (only half joking - Your child is first and foremost independent human and not extension of yourself).

>> You understand them and they understand you like no one else does.

I think I have never seen this in my life - where do You think generational conflicts comes from?

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

#176

Post by v-erne »

deltaonefour wrote: post #101
csdvrx wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But when you ask people directly whether or not they're happier with kids, they almost always say they are. It's as if they aren't fully aware about how unhappy they are with the kids. It's as if having kids rewrote the utility function of the person, introducing a bug to pass the test suite ("self satisfaction") to allow for a wider diffusion of the behavior ("I'm so much happier now, trust me it's wonderful!"), y…

To clarify the scientific inquiry that measures happiness is simply asking people how happy they were on a scale of 1 to 10. On average people with kids would rate their happiness lower, but when these people are asked whether having kids made them happier they would say yes. So are they happier? Not sure. Could be exactly as you say, but in one sense that bug may actually mean they are truly happier.

>> but when these people are asked whether having kids made them happier they would say yes

This can be quite easily explained by peer pressure - You are expected to treat children as precious little gifts from god, and speaking ill about them makes you look bad in the eyes of your peers.

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

#178

Post by efrecon »

crossroadsguy wrote: post #122

Those are so very clichéd but that’s how it is. 1. Travelling - just going somewhere, taking a train ride, just being on the move, a trek, or a place even 80-100km from the city or sometimes closer; for 1-2 days, or few months at a stretch. I really feel I’m breathing more, feel like I am “alive” (I don’t know how else to say this), I feel genuinely and effortlessly happy when I’m travelling. I sleep better (!!), I w…

And why would running not be a sport?

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

#179

Post by Sukotto »

schappim wrote: post #142
peanut-walrus wrote: post #32

To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.

Source (Conan The Barbarian: What is best in life...?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XUu3_pLPUE

Screenwriters for "Conan the Barbarian" (1982) might have got it from Part 2, Chapter XI of "Genghis Khan The Emperor Of All Men" by H. Lamb (1936).

https://archive.org/details/genghiskhantheem035122mbp/page/n...

  One day in the pavilion at Karakorum he asked
  an officer of the Mongol guard what, in all the
  world, could bring the greatest happiness.

  "The open steppe, a clear day, and a swift horse
  under you," responded the officer after a little
  thought, "and a falcon on your on your wrist to
  start up hares."

  "Nay," responded the Khan, "to crush your enemies,
  to see them fall at your feet -- to take their 
  horses and goods and hear the lamentation of 
  their women. That is best."

Re: Ask HN: What's your greatest enjoyment in life?

#180

Post by srvmshr »

kairozu wrote: post #170
tjpnz wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too live in Japan. You don't have to put up with the Japanese office regimen if you don't like it. My last and current roles have been at Japanese companies and I've been able to WFH for both. No guarantee you'll be able to rid yourself of GCP/AWS though.

This! Also live in Japan & work for a domestic company w/friendly work culture (no dress code, WFH common, flex time). Definitely look for something new if you’re not happy.

I have all the three you mentioned. The problem lies with staffing.

I am the only one who does their ETL, manage their database, build the backend and dashboard and pursue ML projects on 3D AR/MR at the same time. For them, as the 4X engineer I am shouldering half of the engineering workload

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