Ask HN: If you didn’t have to work for money, what would you be doing full time?

Playing with my kids.

I mean that seriously, but in the spirit of the question I would (and am, since I’m in this position) still working part-time on labors of love, and going back to school for my PhD.

Once you commit to your PhD work, you won't have time to play with your kids. Believe me, I've gone down that path. It was an 8 year journey with lots and lots of roadblocks, challenges, mental and physical health issues, etc.

For your own and your family's sake, read up (a lot) about other people's experiences with a PhD. It almost never is plain sailing, no matter how optimistic you are about it at the outset.

Pursuing research in different fields (especially computational physics, bioinformatics) in personal capacity.

I had once asked the same question to a scientist friend who actually wanted to switch back from research to engineering to find some practical implementation of the things he had been working. I guess it was partly because organizational research does confine you within certain bounds and most of the times its taxpayer money so you have that in the back of your head to make sure you do not abuse it and actually perform relevant research which is "useful". This is why I have explicitly mentioned "personal capacity".

I would be a full time artist. I create concrete sculptures. Have gotten amazing validation over the years and would really love to do it full time. If you're curious how this stuff looks like, check https://www.instagram.com/jurgenwerk/

Asssuming I had enough money, working on my various useless but fun side projects. A little bit of venturing in various other things, trying random hobbies / jobs / etc. seeing what I like and what I don’t like. Going out, sometimes to random places and just talking with people about their life stories and passions. I would be lying if I didn’t admit I’d spend time playing games or other unproductive tasks as well.