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Time is the only real currency we have

blog.theboringtech.io

101–110 of 313 posts

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#102

I’ve often wondered what society would look like if optimized for saving people time. Just some quick thoughts: - Crosswalks and traffic lights would become non-existent and replaced with more pedestrian overpasses, turning/merging lanes, and other designs. Waiting for the light to change is a huge waste of time for both pedestrians and drivers. It seems like we might get this eventually with self-driving cars. - Min…

all of the above currently exists in some form.

I'm sure more of it will come.

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has also been a thing at many US grocery stores for many years now, but inexplicably, many people don't use them.

How? Where? Would love to know how to get access to this.

I've seen this at one Ralphs (Kroger) location near me.

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#104
If you want to stop wasting your time, and want to learn something thoroughly and once, I would recommend learning how to use Anki effectively. It has reduced the amount of time it takes to learn new things, while simultaneously allowing me to remember them for far longer periods of time. I can currently stop an online course for months, and return to the same point when I come back, with far more knowledge of the subject than I had when I left.

Anki, like using a calendar and communication tools effectively, is just pushing the burden of organization, memory and attention out of your head, and into your environment. This will not only save you time, but it will also, if set up right, give you that sense of peace of knowing that whatever you are doing is exactly where you should be.

It's solid. I learned about it in "Learning How to Learn", but the mental concept stuff is from "The Organized Mind".

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#105
post #104

If you want to stop wasting your time, and want to learn something thoroughly and once, I would recommend learning how to use Anki effectively. It has reduced the amount of time it takes to learn new things, while simultaneously allowing me to remember them for far longer periods of time. I can currently stop an online course for months, and return to the same point when I come back, with far more knowledge of the su…

> learning how to use Anki effectively.

I made this exact comment about two weeks ago, you might find it useful:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22855046

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#106
What if we would give every person a fix amount of money every week during lifetime. Where money older then a year becomes worthless? No inherithing, no accumulation, no positive interest.

Because every person is worth the same and all we do, is spending our lifetime doing stuff keeping us busy.

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#107
post #17

I’ve often wondered what society would look like if optimized for saving people time. Just some quick thoughts: - Crosswalks and traffic lights would become non-existent and replaced with more pedestrian overpasses, turning/merging lanes, and other designs. Waiting for the light to change is a huge waste of time for both pedestrians and drivers. It seems like we might get this eventually with self-driving cars. - Min…

> Purchase and checkout items while you shop, rather than waiting in line at a cash register. Or just skip shopping in person and order everything via delivery. I believe this is starting to happen in some places, example (and an interesting video on RFID tags in general) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QKrHi-G9WQ

More examples (Kroger handheld checkout scanners): - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BcAZPh9nuA

And of course Amazon Go - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPZdWuOPaHY

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#108

What if we would give every person a fix amount of money every week during lifetime. Where money older then a year becomes worthless? No inherithing, no accumulation, no positive interest. Because every person is worth the same and all we do, is spending our lifetime doing stuff keeping us busy.

> Where money older then a year becomes worthless? No inherithing, no accumulation, no positive interest.

Rampant inflation as every dollar is shoveled into assets.

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#109
post #93
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> replaced with more pedestrian overpasses, vegas has pedestrian overpasses and they are a tremendous waste of time - much worse than crosswalks. A better approach would be to keep the pedestrians at grade-level and have car under-passes

There’s other ways to do it them having gigantic concrete bridges like Vegas. In downtown SF, you could put lower diagonal street bridges which would save an infinite amount of time for people driving.

Several large cities in China that I've been to tend to use pedestrian tunnels at many large intersections. It works pretty well - subway-like staircases at each corner, and nice wide hallway/tunnels going around the whole intersection. Occasionally with some shops.

It has the advantage of being easy on the eyes above-ground. I can imagine in places with serious homelessness issues there could be problems, but the ones I experienced were fairly nice - some more plain than others, but generally graffiti free, well lit, and well used.

Re: Time is the only real currency we have

#110

Interesting premise and article. I do disagree with a lot of it since I believe more in maximizing human potential through mindfulness and tuning ourselves instead of our tools. re: “ You don’t want to be the person who thinks their problem through on a piece of paper,...” For difficult problems I think you do want to be this kind of person. Walking away from your laptop, sitting outside or anywhere relaxing with a p…

This sounds like a good idea, and I’m planning to try it out. Thanks for sharing!

I find that a lot of the time when I’m figuring out how to solve a problem, I need to read a lot of code. Is that something you do before you sit down with pen and paper?

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