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A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

latimes.com

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Re: A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

#171

Post by saiya-jin »

moonchrome wrote: post #19
TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it such a bad thing to dream of a life which values things outside of a workplace? To spend time with friends and family. The older generations cling to positions of power and refuse to make room for the newer generations, so it is upon them to find meaning and purpose through other avenues. Retiring seems important for allowing younger generations to take their place. But if all you have is your work and you've l…

> Is it such a bad thing to dream of a life which values things outside of a workplace? To spend time with friends and family. Friends and family are great reprieve between working hours and obligations. I wouldn't want that to be the only thing going on. Stay at home moms and retired people around me are not the image of fulfilment. The few retired people I've met that were happy and engaging are the kind that didn'…

It doesn't have to be work, but instead of word hobby I would use word passion. For me its various sports and activities mostly in the mountains and backpacking around the world. This keeps me sane and cca happy.

My father worked an extra year so he could buy his lifelong dream - Harley Davidson. Few years later, he is still very much into it, found new friends and community he enjoys being part of, going out on various adventures.

Hobby for me is something I like doing sometimes. Passion is something that defines at least part of me, think about it a lot in my free time, train for it etc. If you have proper passion(s), retirement means just more time for them. Like say rock climbing.

The idea of having free time to finally travel around the world in slow pace, or climb rock whenever I want sounds like paradise.

Re: A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

#172

Post by JSavageOne »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #2

I’ve been fortunate enough to know a few older people who really loved their work and were excellent at it. All of them had one thing in common: they didn’t want to retire. Meanwhile all of my peer group is obsessed with FIRE and dream of retiring early. All of us are also involved in pretty meaningless work that has no measurable impact on the world (five lines of code to a million line codebase is hardly world chan…

FIRE is about financial independence, aka freedom to work on whatever you want. It'd be nonsensical not to strive for financial independence.

I'm not FIRE but took most of the last year to work on projects that I enjoy. There's absolutely no comparison to working for oneself vs. working for a boss for a paycheck. The former has me loving life and my work, the latter will have my questioning my career choice and the system we live in.

Probably in 10 years we'll have something resembling a UBI in most major western countries, so finally everyone will have the freedom to work on what they enjoy instead of selling their soul for a paycheck.

Re: A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

#173

Post by jdkoeck »

vasco wrote: post #149
jdkoeck wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you assume the poster above you is in it for the money?

They shared their own thoughts, not an assumption about op.

The poster above says he has enough money, so that’s why he does not want to bother with investor, acquisitions, metrics, etc. The underlying assumption is that money is why you want to get into startups, which I think is not correct.

Re: A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

#174

Post by yMEyUyNE1 »

leeoniya wrote: post #93
zw123456 wrote: post #57

Hi there, old person here. Tomorrow is my 65th birthday. I had vowed to myself that I would completely and totally retire, Finally, at 65. But then, this "thing" cropped up and the day after tomorrow, I am pitching my 3rd startup to investors. I wonder, am I crazy. But I feel passion for this project. So, I am throwing myself into the fray again, there is no logical reason to do so. So, Rudy, I understand.

Budd : They say the number one killer of old people is retirement. People got a job to do, they tend to live a little longer so they can do it. I've always figured that warriors and their enemies share the same relationship. (Kill Bill: Vol 2)

What is your ikigai? Ikigai is a Japanese concept referring to something that gives a person a sense of purpose, a reason for living.

Said to be a reason for long life.

Re: A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

#175

Post by JSavageOne »

atrettel wrote: post #39
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #2

I’ve been fortunate enough to know a few older people who really loved their work and were excellent at it. All of them had one thing in common: they didn’t want to retire. Meanwhile all of my peer group is obsessed with FIRE and dream of retiring early. All of us are also involved in pretty meaningless work that has no measurable impact on the world (five lines of code to a million line codebase is hardly world chan…

I would think that the "obsession" your peer group has with retiring early comes more from the realization that they can retire early (they have the ability to if they want) more than anything else. Your observations of your peer group may have some selection bias present. Cast a wider net and you may come to the opposite conclusion. I agree that many people do not find much meaning in their work, but most people als…

I think it's less about ability to retire early, more about realization that being forced to sell one's life and freedom to an employer is not only miserable, but completely unnecessary for society to function (eg. with a UBI society would carry on just fine, and likely accelerate automation).

The older generation didn't grow up with technology so perhaps it's not as obvious to them.

Re: A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

#177

Post by JSavageOne »

eclectic29 wrote: post #94

How does one keep going so long with the same passion, energy and excitement? Is it because of working in academia? Corporate life with its politics has exhausted me and sucked all the passion out of work. My cognitive abilities are declining due to the constant pressure to show (fake) impact and tout my own horn to move up.

A tenured professor pursuing their scientific passion vs. a cog at a for-profit corporation who's mission is to serve shareholders, in an industry that had over 150k layoffs in the last year, where you have no freedom over your work, have to play politics and constantly justify your value and why they shouldn't fire you, you're easily replaceable, and little of your work is particularly meaningful or benefits society.

Not really a mystery why one of these entails passion, energy, and excitement at age 100 while the other doesn't.

Re: A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

#179

Post by vasco »

jdkoeck wrote: post #173
vasco wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They shared their own thoughts, not an assumption about op.

The poster above says he has enough money, so that’s why he does not want to bother with investor, acquisitions, metrics, etc. The underlying assumption is that money is why you want to get into startups, which I think is not correct.

If I go cut trees in the forest, it'll just be for the money, because I like computers and sitting down.

For someone that loves physical exercise and the outdoors, and has an appreciation for falling trees, it'll be their passion.

I can describe a situation where I decide to not cut trees if I don't need the money without passing judgement on others that do it for love. Assuming they are connected was your mistake.

It's possible to share something about one's life candidly even if it's different without thinking less of the other.

Re: A Caltech Nobel laureate celebrates his 100th birthday, then gets back to work

#180

Post by optimalsolver »

OJFord wrote: post #170
ETH_start wrote: post #138

I hope the day comes when we look upon the 100th birthday the way we now look at a second birthday.

What might the world population be?

Less than the Solar System population.
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