The story from the wall on Jimmy John's?
The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
21–30 of 131 posts
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#22A few years later, the fisherman gets an expensive, debilitating disease and dies penniless and destitute and alone. But at least he had fun before that.
So he still lived a happy an fulfilling life doing exactly what he wanted. Sounds good to me.
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
7 Habits is a great book everyone should read
> First off, I'd suggest buying "Seven Habits of Highly Successful People", and NOT read it. Burn it, it's a great symbolic gesture. -- Linus Torvalds Myself... I'm not that extreme, but the good ideas from so many business books could be summed up in a few paragraphs.
> the good ideas from so many business books could be summed up in a few paragraphs
Sure. You can also forgo reading most fiction by simply reading the Wikipedia plot summary.
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#24I'd like an extended version of the story where the businessman realizes he's wrong, invites all his friends to give up their lives in the business-world and revert to subsistence living that provides freedom.
Then society collapses because if everyone is doing the bare minimum, there isn't anything left over for basic government services.
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#25A few years later, the fisherman gets an expensive, debilitating disease and dies penniless and destitute and alone. But at least he had fun before that.
Well, apparently the story was conceived by a German, in which case the social system would catch him, provide the health care he needs, and when recovered he'd be back on that beach...
Anywhere in Europe actually.
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#26Hasn't that happened in Somalia? There were happy fishermen until their fishing grounds were depleted by businessmen and their big boats which led to the pirate industry?
On land, it's hunter gatherers and farming or logging.
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#27Hasn't that happened in Somalia? There were happy fishermen until their fishing grounds were depleted by businessmen and their big boats which led to the pirate industry? On land, it's hunter gatherers and farming or logging.
Yeah everyone here is totally missing this point
“Who would make the iPhones then?”
Nobody cause they wouldn’t exist
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#28I'd like an extended version of the story where the businessman realizes he's wrong, invites all his friends to give up their lives in the business-world and revert to subsistence living that provides freedom. Then society collapses because if everyone is doing the bare minimum, there isn't anything left over for basic government services.
Nobody said that the fisherman is engaged in subsistence living.
I'd also like a citation on the claim that "basic government services" require profit-making (and presumably taxation to go with it) that is substantively different than the fisherman's approach to life.
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#29In a similar spirit there's Tolstoy's classic short story, "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" [1]
I'd start just before chapter V if you want to get right into it -- the ending is truly delicious, and quite inline with OP's story, enjoy.
Re: The businessman and the fisherman (1963)
#30A few years later, the fisherman gets an expensive, debilitating disease and dies penniless and destitute and alone. But at least he had fun before that.
He doesn’t die alone. His children and wife watch him die. Without him, they must toil endlessly to survive.
His son already got into YC2024, via his participation in a worker-owned tech coop that is bringing big data, AI and crowd sourcing to the fishing business.
His wife, who in the 1800s, would never have been recognized for her work, is today known as one of her country's greatest contemporary sculptors, and has exhibited at Tate Modern, the Guggenheim and has a show next month in Rio.
The fisherman used to talk with pride about his family's accomplishments when sipping retsina with his friends on the dock.