111–120 of 517 posts
I would love to, but I come from a place where intellectual pursuits are not valued, so I would lose out on that front if I moved back. I’m the type who needs to always be learning. So I would always need to be in a big city. Alain Bertaud, the urbanist, recently said, “the big contribution of cities is randomness.” And he continues: “You don't know what to expect. You don't know who you will meet. And, it's precisel…
— Baz Luhrmann from Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI
I haven't found the above advice to be true, I'm 40 now.
I moved off grid after living in a city for 20 years.
I don't have a lot of friends but I'm happy, my nearest neighbor is 5km away.
I enjoy the dark nights, the silence and the solitude.
I think friends are a really arbitrary thing to plan your life around.
Friends can also be a burden, more isn't just better; shoutout to social media.
"If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company."
— Jean-Paul Sartre
Words to live by.
I would love to, but I come from a place where intellectual pursuits are not valued, so I would lose out on that front if I moved back. I’m the type who needs to always be learning. So I would always need to be in a big city. Alain Bertaud, the urbanist, recently said, “the big contribution of cities is randomness.” And he continues: “You don't know what to expect. You don't know who you will meet. And, it's precisel…
Interestingly, the quote you cite here seems to be specifically directed at G.K. Chesterton, who said exactly the opposite—that larger societies tend towards reducing the amount of variety that you experience, precisely because you can choose to associate primarily with people who you relate to [0]. In a small community, you could choose to be entirely isolated, but if you want company you'll need to associate with t…
My VHCOL city neighbors / friends all have laptop jobs like me. They all vote like me. They all went to competitive colleges like me. They had to pass through all the same sorting mechanisms in order to afford the VHCOL lifestyle.
My MCOL exurb friends & neighbors include building contractors, teachers, professors, cops, cafe owners, etc. Their voting and education are heterogenous.
I would love to, but I come from a place where intellectual pursuits are not valued, so I would lose out on that front if I moved back. I’m the type who needs to always be learning. So I would always need to be in a big city. Alain Bertaud, the urbanist, recently said, “the big contribution of cities is randomness.” And he continues: “You don't know what to expect. You don't know who you will meet. And, it's precisel…
> I would love to, but I come from a place where intellectual pursuits are not valued, so I would lose out on that front if I moved back. I used to think along similar lines. But I haven't found moving out of the city to be subtractive of my 'intellectual life'. If anything, it has been complementary - due to being grounded in mainstream experience again that I lost touch with in the city. That said, I've very consci…
I would love to, but I come from a place where intellectual pursuits are not valued, so I would lose out on that front if I moved back. I’m the type who needs to always be learning. So I would always need to be in a big city. Alain Bertaud, the urbanist, recently said, “the big contribution of cities is randomness.” And he continues: “You don't know what to expect. You don't know who you will meet. And, it's precisel…
This was not the only way it could have gone, but it ended up being like this due to the government kowtowing to the moneyed interests.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you spent time around intentional communities? It's possible you're taking a looser meaning of the phrase than I am, but Intentional Communities have no shortage of toxicity and drama, especially since by their nature these communities filter for people for whom the 'default world' didn't work. That's not to say the concept is bad, but it's very very easy for even a good group to rapidly devolve, the clearer hea…
Rather than an “intentional community” which sounds kind of overbearing to me, I’d be happy to have some way to filter for houses/apartments that are simply in proximity to others who are at least open to making friends and want to be pleasant, neighborly, etc. I don’t need or particularly want there to be any obligations or explicit organization facilitating this. When people are friendly and open, it happens natura…
Put simply, you feel like you live in a community without having built a commune or something.
Unfortunately it's kind of hard to tell what cities have this "social spatial density." There are denser urban areas that feel less communal, and far sparser ones that seem moreso, it's related to overall population density but not perfectly so.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a simple matter of density. It's not about intellect or intellectual pursuit at large, rural people are plenty smart. It's that intellectual pursuits can be very niche, and you're more likely to find someone that shares that very specific intellectual pursuit the more people there are, in close proximity. If you're located somewhere rural, your closest neighbors maybe 30 mins away, and friends often further. Tha…
This is it. It’s proximity. Let’s say you’re interested in transformers. In a big city, you could go to a meetup, talk to different people working on this stuff at a production level (maybe there’s even some guy who works on it at Google), talk about tips or pitfalls that no one ever publishes and potentially have the conversation veer off to DuckDB or some obscure topic. When you have a gathering of like minds, the…
The idea that spontaneous interactions lead to innovation is wonderfully captured in Kevin Simler’s essay Going Critical
100% this. Started out with two families buying houses near each other in a family centric LA neighborhood (Eagle Rock). Then it expanded to 3 --> 4 --> 5 all within walking distance. We all have similar aged children. It's magic. We watch each others kids, do frequent backyard/park/sleepover playdates, and help w dropoff/pickup. It makes parenting SO MUCH EASIER. I often joke that I'm not a real parent bc we have so…
How are the schools though? Will the kids in your commune go through LAUSD together?
I'm also a nomad and have found that, with a little extra effort on my part (it helps that I'm extroverted and skilled with productivity apps), I can easily see many friends all over the world.
Also there was a study that found the reason some old folks lived super long in Italian towns is because of community.
Coming from a Latin American the idea of re-starting your life across the country for college and then again for work (multiple times sometimes) while away from family and friends is very foreign. A lot of the conversation around modern American youth feeling isolated, lacking socialization and not building strong relationships seems that stem from this drive. Another thing that’s really weird and related is another…
The migration is about the different things one wants during the course of one’s life.
Perhaps you could rephrase the concept around “if you stay at home you might miss out on some of the opportunities your peers experienced” if you want to look at both sides you could consider the benefits of community family and friends that those who stay are able to enjoy.