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Life Is Short (2016)

paulgraham.com

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Re: Life Is Short (2016)

#91

Post by Nomentatus »

Viliam1234 wrote: post #88
Nomentatus wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet there is a very large societal problem here worth pointing at. Parental time with children in this society is bizarrely low by anthropological standards. You can get a look at the stark difference by reading the book "The Old Way," about a nomadic society.

I suppose a typical nomadic society is not like "mother and father with kids, the nearest relative a few miles away". Childcare is easier when you have a group of adults taking care of a group of kids. And of course, parents have the primary responsibility, but it is not a 24 hour duty.

That counts, but parents spend most of their time with their kids. Moms gather and the kids come along and help to an extent. If you can take your children to work and interact with them while you're working, that's huge.

The upshot is that we have to do everything we can to give our children more of our time; we aren't a desperately poor society, we can do more. We have wandered far from our "species essence" and now wonder why so much is going wrong.

Re: Life Is Short (2016)

#92

Post by breck »

ablatt89 wrote: post #63
kubb wrote: post #38

This makes you think that Paul would be interested in fighting for a world where people don't waste most of their short lives in bullshit corporate jobs because the market demands it, and instead can focus on important things like their families.

Funny enough, I know some engineers who go to work, non-remote, to escape from their wife and kids for a bit and work becomes an avenue to relax! And having to take care of an aging parent who lives with me, I can understand.

The first years are brutally hard (the sleep deprivation in particular) and in my experience work is much easier than raising children, so there's definitely truth to that. The best is when you can do both at the same time. During COVID, for instance, I wrote code in one room while my 1yo played in the next (since everything was locked down). As she got older, she started asking questions and would even provide me advice "stop thinking daddy!" (just do, I assume she was implying). I think this is closer to how it was in the old days—where the kids worked alongside the parents in the farms or shops. You get to spend time with your children while teaching them your crafts and showing them the joy and passion of work. That is the good life, in my opinion.

Re: Life Is Short (2016)

#93

Post by gms »

SCUSKU wrote: post #43
gallerdude wrote: post #18

There are a lot of great lines in this, but the one that’s always stuck with me is simply “bullshit is the junk food of experience.” It’s a perfect metaphor in so many ways, there’s some fundamental truth glowing behind it like a lightbulb.

The one I never forget is how PG describes his mother's death. "I lived as if she'd always be there. And in her typical quiet way she encouraged that illusion. But an illusion it was." I read this the last time it was posted and this scared the living hell out of me. It has reminded me to never take people, especially my family, for granted. I used to be much more reluctant to go home, but as I've grown older I now a…

This is rather true indeed. I would always visit home often as it made my parents happy but sometimes would wonder if I should skip a visit once in a while.

My dad died this year and the result of all those visits is that I have zero regrets. I'm grateful I stuck with them because having regrets now, when it's too late, would be awful.

Re: Life Is Short (2016)

#94

Post by icelancer »

msie wrote: post #73

At 51, I am trying to come to grips with wasting my life in my 20s, 30s and 40s. I don't remember doing anything memorable during that time. I spent too much time doing bullshit programming or doing the same old comfortable things with friends. I wish I dated more. Tried more things that young people can do. I was too scared to make mistakes. Now I can't go back. It's driving me nuts.

Don't be 68 wondering the same thing about the last decade and a half.

Re: Life Is Short (2016)

#97

Post by Lionga »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #79
anhner wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, the hard earned social lesson of not wearing mixed fibers. Or not allowing women on their period to share the bed of their husband.

Please don't make comments like this on HN. Nobody was making the argument that extremely specific religious quirks like this are encode knowledge important to the wise use of modern technology.

It is valueable as the comments shows so easily how wrong religions get it, when many take religions as truths

Re: Life Is Short (2016)

#98

Post by holoduke »

breck wrote: post #92
ablatt89 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny enough, I know some engineers who go to work, non-remote, to escape from their wife and kids for a bit and work becomes an avenue to relax! And having to take care of an aging parent who lives with me, I can understand.

The first years are brutally hard (the sleep deprivation in particular) and in my experience work is much easier than raising children, so there's definitely truth to that. The best is when you can do both at the same time. During COVID, for instance, I wrote code in one room while my 1yo played in the next (since everything was locked down). As she got older, she started asking questions and would even provide me ad…

A personal take on this. I found myself allowing too much screen time for the kids while working at home and having the kids around me. I couldnt give enough attention to either work and kids. Its good for everyone that everything is back to (normal)

Re: Life Is Short (2016)

#99

Post by rablackburn »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #65
tobylane wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humanism fills that need. It doesn’t matter that it’s new, Islam and Christianity were new once, and corrupted since.

There's an argument to me made that the age/popularity of a belief system does correlate with validity, given that their individual memes are subject to Darwinism. Of course it's not everything, but I don't think humanism on its own would work without an older religion as its "bootstrap".

I wouldn’t say it necessarily correlates with validity - Darwinism is about one thing: fitness of survival.

I feel like if you squint a little you can see all the positive-memetic adaptations that get bolted on to organised religion.

A commandment to “worship no other god but me” is a classic example of something that seems less like profound revelation and more like an effective memetic adaptation.

Re: Life Is Short (2016)

#100

Post by Lionga »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #82
lgas wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is religions' answer? "Because Sky daddy said so"?

If "Sky Daddy" is the literal creator of the Earth who gave direct commands to mankind, then that alone is a pretty valid reason. If he isn't, then he's a powerful (yet imaginary) social construct that has evolved over the past 4,000 years to encode the wisdom of many past generations through a set of rules and stories that happen to match up with the stories and rules of many other cultures. It's also an incredibly…

The claim of black or gay people beeing inferior had been there for more than 4000 years. Does that give any validity to you?
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