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

Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

fs.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 171 posts

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#151

Post by rpastuszak »

adwn wrote: post #146
rpastuszak wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What? I can’t see it being a good invention driver for anything other than the category of “tools for lazy people”. How was the invention of the OLED driven by laziness? How about the high bypass turbofan? It's proven that "doing nothing" helps with creative thinking. The inventions you are talking about are a product of both hard work and laziness. You can't solve a problem by staring at your screen and thinking r…

> It's proven that "doing nothing" helps with creative thinking. The inventions you are talking about are a product of both hard work and laziness. The kind of "doing nothing" that helps with creative thinking is very different from the kind of "doing nothing" that results from laziness. > On a less serious note, I'd say that 90% of my programming work is driven by laziness. For instance, I test things in advance or…

Yeah, that was supposed to sound tongue-in-cheek, but actually distorts the meaning of the rest of the post. I wish I didn't add that example and kept only the first part of the post. Thanks for pointing that out. (Now, I wish I kept only the bullet points)

> The kind of "doing nothing" that helps with creative thinking is very different from the kind of "doing nothing" that results from laziness.

I agree, but that's not how I read the parent post. I'm curious to see how you'd describe this distinction though.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#152

Post by throwayws »

Minor49er wrote: post #121
throwayws wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You make a simple mistake(like looking weak, with no friends or too smart) and you die, it was as simple as that. Dying is simple, life living is harder.

Reminds me of the Charles Manson quote: "Living is what scares me. Dying is easy."

I actually got the idea from Hamilton, the musical about the founding father. I loved the Washington-character there.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#153

Post by quacked »

To paraphrase a blog writer- "a lot of people complain about feeling disconnected, but when I ask them to describe what it would feel like to be connected, they are unable to describe anything."

Many people are aware of life feeling too complicated, but very few actually have thought about what life would feel like if it were simple, and once they think about what they would need to get rid of in order to make life feel simple, most are unwilling to give up the privileges and freedom afforded to them by their "complex" lives.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#154

Post by adwn »

rpastuszak wrote: post #151
adwn wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's proven that "doing nothing" helps with creative thinking. The inventions you are talking about are a product of both hard work and laziness. The kind of "doing nothing" that helps with creative thinking is very different from the kind of "doing nothing" that results from laziness. > On a less serious note, I'd say that 90% of my programming work is driven by laziness. For instance, I test things in advance or…

Yeah, that was supposed to sound tongue-in-cheek, but actually distorts the meaning of the rest of the post. I wish I didn't add that example and kept only the first part of the post. Thanks for pointing that out. (Now, I wish I kept only the bullet points) > The kind of "doing nothing" that helps with creative thinking is very different from the kind of "doing nothing" that results from laziness. I agree, but that's…

> I'm curious to see how you'd describe this distinction though.

One kind of "doing nothing" frees your mind to discover solutions and interesting ideas in a background process. Examples include talking a walk, talking a shower, or just sitting around and letting your mind wander.

The other kind of "doing nothing" occupies your mind with low-effort thought processes. Examples include watching TV or reading a book. This isn't necessarily a negative thing, but your mind won't be solving problems (unless you're not really focusing on the movie or the book).

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#155

Post by rconti »

chillwaves wrote: post #56
rconti wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do up to about 6 or 7 days. I often joke I'm not responsible enough to own a dog, and if I was going to get a dog, I might as well just have kids. The idea of having to find a way to take care of the dog when you want to go out of town is definitely a little anxiety-producing.

How do you deal with litter boxes?

so- we have a large "concrete mixing tub" we use as a litterbox for the 2 cats. it's roughly 36" x 24". It's in a 2-level wooden enclosure my father-in-law built just outside our house, with a cat door connecting it to the interior of our house.

No reason it couldn't be used inside, of course, but it would eventually smell more inside, versus a smaller box you scoop more frequently. (of course, you can scoop a large box frequently too, it just takes longer).

I tell myself I scoop it twice a week, but to be honest, it often ends up being more like "weekly", on garbage day.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Plasgad-Black-Large-Concrete-Mix...

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#156

Post by chillwaves »

rconti wrote: post #155
chillwaves wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you deal with litter boxes?

so- we have a large "concrete mixing tub" we use as a litterbox for the 2 cats. it's roughly 36" x 24". It's in a 2-level wooden enclosure my father-in-law built just outside our house, with a cat door connecting it to the interior of our house. No reason it couldn't be used inside, of course, but it would eventually smell more inside, versus a smaller box you scoop more frequently. (of course, you can scoop a large…

Once during college, I lived with roommates (and girlfriend) who loved cats. Think we had 3-4 indoor cats at one point and some other strays outside they liked to feed.

We had 3 litter boxes and they had to be scooped daily or they quickly became disgusting.

My point was that cats still need upkeep and it's really not fair to leave them living in filth for a week at a time just because someone can set up an auto-feeder.

Any pet is going to be an inconvenience if properly cared for. Doesn't mean a person can't travel, but as mentioned they will likely need to ask or pay someone to come and check on the pets.

Giant litter box is helpful but still needs to be regularly scooped.

If someone can invent a feasible self cleaning litter box (or a good way to toilet train a cat) I would love to have a cat pet, but right now the idea of them using dirty litter boxes and walking on every surface in the house is just too unappealing.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#157

Post by seppin »

crusso wrote: post #125
pritovido wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been in countries at war, like Congo, and life there was the simplest thing you could have. In fact, all the complexity appears when there is peace. People do not save or study or anything secondary when there is war. Are you going to study when you don't know where your family is? When your mother or sister or daughter has been raped and you have to protect her for being raped or killed? When they go after yo…

There's no escaping Maslow's Triangle.

Sure there is, once you have your basic needs met, you opt-out of any further status games.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#158

Post by GuB-42 »

superasn wrote: post #81
carabiner wrote: post #15

I see this all around me. People are fixated on careers, hobbies (FOMO), spread thin by family obligations and errands. The truth is, happiness does not derive from these things. This "busyness" is an invention. Life is simple, and happiness actually derives from having cats.

You know what drives me crazy? All these people talking about how great technology is and how it saves all this time. But what good is saved time if nobody uses it? It just turns into more busy work, right? You never hear somebody say, "Well, with the time I’ve saved by using my Word Processor, I’m gonna go to a Zen monastery and hang out.” (Jesse)

Life is busy work. I mean, we give sense to our life beyond filling the atmosphere with CO2, and yet, on a planetary scale, there is not much more to humanity than that.

Technology allows us to experience things that wouldn't be possible otherwise. And your word processor can indeed save you enough time to do other things you want to do with your life. And if word processors and overstimulation are not your things, you can go to a Zen monastery, technology have your back: food, medicine, construction, transportation,... so you can meditate in peace.

I have known several people who live a simple life. Small house in the middle of nowhere, no phone signal, grow their own crops, etc... But they still have a car, go out to town to buy stuff that come out of large factories, they have a few electric devices powered by solar panels, etc... They take advantage of technology and people love of word processors to live their simple life, and that's fine! That's what technology is for, to allow those who want to disconnect to do so without putting their life at risk, and to give a dopamine rush to those who can't stay still.

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#159

Post by seppin »

nathanvanfleet wrote: post #58
mStreamTeam wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is funny because the most unhappy and anxious people I know are cat owners.

I remember talking to a coworker friend of mine who was a cat owner. She said that she didn't understand dogs. They just loved you unconditionally all the time no matter what. So I guess she liked the life with the cat where it was just randomly mean or not interested in her sometimes. Kind of illustrated things to me.

This says a lot about their romantic life, too

Re: Why Life Can’t Be Simpler

#160

Post by seppin »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #61
nathanvanfleet wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember talking to a coworker friend of mine who was a cat owner. She said that she didn't understand dogs. They just loved you unconditionally all the time no matter what. So I guess she liked the life with the cat where it was just randomly mean or not interested in her sometimes. Kind of illustrated things to me.

You gotta earn it with a cat. Dogs are for people that need the reassurance of the unconditional love Cats are for people who have the kind of levels of self-confidence that makes the unconditional love of a dog both suffocatingly annoying and suspicious.

> You gotta earn it with a cat.

Do I detect catholic guilt ?

Post reply on HN