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

Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

1843magazine.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 535 posts

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#131

Post by chongli »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #91
chongli wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens when technology progresses to the point where they can't be productive at all? Where it simply costs money to give them a job. Are you okay with paying people to dig holes and fill them back up again?

I'll worry about that when it happens. We're not even close yet. https://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2016/robots_didnt_take_ou... Similarly, the average American fat person shouldn't eat 6 cheeseburgers on the theory that starvation is coming.

So you want to turn all those unemployed dudes who eat cheeseburgers and play video games all day into your domestic servants, but pay them the same amount of money they're receiving as part of their benefits right now? Do you have any idea how angry they'd be if that happened? It would make la Terreur look like an episode of Teletubbies.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#133

Post by flukus »

pbkhrv wrote: post #42
firstpost1234 wrote: post #26

Hard to blame anyone for spending their time doing things where success is quantifiable and quickly displayed. This is the Western countries' version of hikkikomori and there will only be more of it as education and good opportunities become out of reach for more people. Men seem more likely to do this than women because of the societal pressures on them to get a job and run the rat race of dating and climbing a none…

> and starting your career in your 20s without an inherently marketable skill is terrifying for most people Not as terrifying as starting your career in your 40s without an inherently marketable skill because 20s and 30s were spent playing video games...

But you get some points for being mature because you're no longer the type to get drunk on weeknights and call in sick to work. This isn't always deserved though.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#134

Post by bronz »

researcher11 wrote: post #128

I dropped out and retired at 31 to a third world country. I'm going to study whatever I'm interested in while the economy sorts itself out. I may never re-enter the job maket. I'm ok with that. I'm not rich but it's really cheap here. I don't want to be forced into a rental market or stock market. The jobs don't pay enough and the margins are too thin. The risk is too high and all of my statistical modeling is tellin…

whats the best country to retire in the way you have?

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#135

Post by researcher11 »

bronz wrote: post #134
researcher11 wrote: post #128

I dropped out and retired at 31 to a third world country. I'm going to study whatever I'm interested in while the economy sorts itself out. I may never re-enter the job maket. I'm ok with that. I'm not rich but it's really cheap here. I don't want to be forced into a rental market or stock market. The jobs don't pay enough and the margins are too thin. The risk is too high and all of my statistical modeling is tellin…

whats the best country to retire in the way you have?

I'm in rual Panama. It's probably the best for tax and lifestyle reasons.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#136

Post by thomyorkie »

nitemice wrote: post #86
peckrob wrote: post #72

I've watched this happen to my friends. One that I graduated high school with in particular comes to mind. We all played video games back then. Half Life, Goldeneye, Starcraft, Everquest, etc. He was a smart guy, driven, usually made better grades than me (I was lazy in high school). Took a job at an medical supply company after graduating from high school intending to work for a few months before starting college. W…

It's called gaming addiction, and it's become a more well known thing in the last decade or so. In a lot of ways, it's similar to gambling addiction. [1]( http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3488130.htm ) [2]( http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/features/video-... )

AKA internet addiction https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3480687/

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#137

Post by ethbro »

ehnto wrote: post #59
deelowe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This really hits home for me. Seems like every older family member I have just has tons and tons of useless stuff. I dont get it.

They also have the useful stuff, like property that was reasonably priced at the time of purchase.

And then rig the game to keep said stuff (e.g. Prop 13).

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#138

Post by chongli »

astrange wrote: post #125
chongli wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens when technology progresses to the point where they can't be productive at all? Where it simply costs money to give them a job. Are you okay with paying people to dig holes and fill them back up again?

> What happens when technology progresses to the point where they can't be productive at all? If nobody can ever improve on anything, either everything is free or we're all dead, and in neither case do you need a job in the first place. Just having a lot of manufacturing robots does not mean there is nothing to do!

do you need a job in the first place

The real reason people need jobs, as evident by the number of able-bodied people who don't work at all, is for acquiring status. UBI (nor any other welfare measure) will not solve this problem.

Re: Young men dropping out of the job market to spend time in an alternate reality

#139

Post by _m8fo »

closeparen wrote: post #103
_m8fo wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree with the sentiment, but isn't your own comment being dishonest? There's plenty of land in the United States, and plenty of cities that have hardly been met with the "hoarding" you mention. That being said, living in Boston, MA, I totally feel what you're saying (literally, most of the houses here are expensive, even in crappy areas).

>There's plenty of land in the United States, and plenty of cities that have hardly been met with the "hoarding" you mention. It doesn't matter how cheap the land/housing is if you can't get a job while living on it. I'd love to be in a world where geography doesn't matter and everyone can work remotely. For now, only a small and elite subset of software engineers can pull US cost of living (even rural cost of living…

Sure, but it's a chicken and egg problem, unfortunately. Besides, there are other cheap cities that are way cheaper that have software jobs -- Salt Lake City, Dallas, Nashville, etc. It's not adtech, but hey...
Post reply on HN