Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

zpub.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 126 posts

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#71

Post by npsimons »

padobson wrote: post #62

The method of a leisure class without duties was, however, extraordinarily wasteful. None of the members of the class had to be taught to be industrious, and the class as a whole was not exceptionally intelligent. The class might produce one Darwin, but against him had to be set tens of thousands of country gentlemen who never thought of anything more intelligent than fox-hunting and punishing poachers. I'm down. We…

Well, apart from that last fictional character who has arguably brought more harm than good through his ideas (and arguably through them being misinterpreted), I'm all down with that.

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#72

Post by aestra »

haihaibye wrote: post #23
circlefavshape wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There is never ever going to be a period of time in the human history, there was none in the past, nor will there be in the future where we shall attain peaceful uniform equality among humans" This is simply not true. Hunter-gatherer societies are typically egalitarian, and our species has subsisted by hunting and gathering for the vast majority of its existence.

In the tribe there was inequality of status (eg best hunters) and mate choice. Between tribes there was inequality of where to live, or living at all due to border clashes, raids etc

This really isn't true on a wide scale. There are exceptions but most hunter-gathers tend to be very egalitarian. There were no permanent leaders, and everyone worked together as a team.

The best part about hunter-gather lifestyle was there was tons of free time.

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#73

Post by theunixbeard »

enduser wrote: post #64

There are a number of beautiful places in the United States where it is possible for a person to subsist quite luxuriously on $1200/mo and preserve the ability to throw parties for friends, buy books and tools, etc. As of January a person with such income will have free Medicare in Oregon. "Fuck You" money is an illusion that keeps you working. The mind loves to believe that having enough of some external thing will…

Any specific recommendations? I've seen Eugene, Boise, Flagstaff, and Albuquerque thrown around on HN before but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#75

Post by Draiken »

padobson wrote: post #62

The method of a leisure class without duties was, however, extraordinarily wasteful. None of the members of the class had to be taught to be industrious, and the class as a whole was not exceptionally intelligent. The class might produce one Darwin, but against him had to be set tens of thousands of country gentlemen who never thought of anything more intelligent than fox-hunting and punishing poachers. I'm down. We…

The problem is the decision to do this is never in the hands of the wage-earners...

Only the powerful and rich can really change this reality, and it's clearly not aligned with their interests.

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#76

Post by salemh »

d23 wrote: post #58
parasight wrote: post #7

It is rather strange. More and more things of everyday life are automated and computerized. Nevertheless, I have the impression to have less and less time to do all the things I want/need to do.

Something happened to me yesterday that I haven't quite had the time to figure out. I'm normally the introverted "stay at home and relax" type, at least during the week. I frequently want to get home from work as early as possible to play video games, play music, or read. The only problem I've had lately is I've had little motivation to do the creative parts (e.g. creating music or programming something). But last ni…

I think momentum plays a big part. That goes both ways in creative pursuits of getting things "done" or at least moving forward on projects, as well as stagnating.

The more time you "I'll do it later" on something, the easier it becomes, etc.

The book "Art of War" while some "hippie'esque"'ness breaks down "resistance" to getting to creative pursuits.

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#77

Post by [deleted] »

theunixbeard wrote: post #73
enduser wrote: post #64

There are a number of beautiful places in the United States where it is possible for a person to subsist quite luxuriously on $1200/mo and preserve the ability to throw parties for friends, buy books and tools, etc. As of January a person with such income will have free Medicare in Oregon. "Fuck You" money is an illusion that keeps you working. The mind loves to believe that having enough of some external thing will…

Any specific recommendations? I've seen Eugene, Boise, Flagstaff, and Albuquerque thrown around on HN before but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

[deleted]

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#78

Post by padobson »

Draiken wrote: post #75
padobson wrote: post #62

The method of a leisure class without duties was, however, extraordinarily wasteful. None of the members of the class had to be taught to be industrious, and the class as a whole was not exceptionally intelligent. The class might produce one Darwin, but against him had to be set tens of thousands of country gentlemen who never thought of anything more intelligent than fox-hunting and punishing poachers. I'm down. We…

The problem is the decision to do this is never in the hands of the wage-earners... Only the powerful and rich can really change this reality, and it's clearly not aligned with their interests.

I don't know. If the venture finance industry has taught us anything, it's that one big win can pay for a whole mess of failures, and then some.

If you tell a bunch of rich people they've got a good chance of financing the next Leonardo DaVinci or Thomas Edison by providing the living essentials to 5,000 people, you could probably get a few to take you up on it. Just make sure you're cutting them in on the profits.

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#79

Post by kasperbn »

cliffbean wrote: post #50
kasperbn wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, Gödel proved that no such foundation exists.

Gödel proved that the foundation can't be complete (without being inconsistent), but it can still be useful.

Which is quite significant I would say. Suddenly we can no longer talk about what is objectively true and false, only what is subjectively useful. That last sentence is of course also neither objectively true nor false, just like this one. See it's a mess :)

Re: Bertrand Russell: In Praise of Idleness (1932)

#80

Post by mimiflynn »

theunixbeard wrote: post #73
enduser wrote: post #64

There are a number of beautiful places in the United States where it is possible for a person to subsist quite luxuriously on $1200/mo and preserve the ability to throw parties for friends, buy books and tools, etc. As of January a person with such income will have free Medicare in Oregon. "Fuck You" money is an illusion that keeps you working. The mind loves to believe that having enough of some external thing will…

Any specific recommendations? I've seen Eugene, Boise, Flagstaff, and Albuquerque thrown around on HN before but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Eugene is in Oregon with the free medicaid. ABQ is my favorite, though. I hear great things about Boise, especially if you are into river sports.
Post reply on HN