Don't Waste the Good Days • Hacker News Board

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#191

Post by dragonwriter » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 9:49 AM UTC

chii wrote: post #87

dragonwriter wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to ...capture the value of those ephemeral capacities directly yourself, whether in recreation or otherwise, rather than yield them to the capital…

> rather than yield them to the capitalist capturing the surplus value of your labor. why would someone give you recreational leisure if you don't have the equivalent money to pay? Who will grow the food you eat, produce the electricity and water you consume etc?

> why would someone give you recreational leisure if you don’t have the equivalent money to pay?

Where did I refer to anyone giving you anything? I referred to immediate capture of the value of your own present and non-durable capacities.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#192

Post by varsketiz » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 9:50 AM UTC

rozim wrote: post #113

Folks might be inspired by reading Die with Zero - I sure was.

Could you tell us more about your inspiration :))?

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#193

Post by dragonwriter » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 9:58 AM UTC

gruez wrote: post #103

dragonwriter wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to ...capture the value of those ephemeral capacities directly yourself, whether in recreation or otherwise, rather than yield them to the capital…

That sounds about right? I get from the structure of your comment you're trying to imply that "capture the value of those ephemeral capacities directly yourself" is better than "rather than yield them to the capitalist capturing the surplus value of your labor", presumably because 100% for the former is bigger (and therefore better) than some fraction less than 100% for the latter. The flaw in that analysis is that i…

> I get from the structure of your comment you’re trying to imply that “capture the value of those ephemeral capacities directly yourself” is better than “rather than yield them to the capitalist capturing the surplus value of your labor”, presumably because 100% for the former is bigger (and therefore better) than some fraction less than 100% for the latter. The flaw in that analysis is that in entirely ignores the compounding effect of returns that the parent poster mentions,

No, it doesn’t.

Weighing potential compounding of deferred gratification forms of capture when compared to recreational capture against nearly guaranteed degradation in some of the capacities to actually enjoy things and the risk of gambler’s ruin is an issue, sure, which the upthread paean to deferred gratification ignores the latter side of, but “capture for yourself, recreationally or otherwise” includes capture for deferred gratification that doesn’t yield the lion’s share of the value to a remote capitalist via wage labor.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#194

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 10:01 AM UTC

bluedevil2k wrote: post #104

gchamonlive wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can everybody earn a year off after working hard? No, because this is privilege. To be born in a rich country. To have family structure to study and go to college, to have a stable job and a successful career after graduation. To be lucky enough to choose a career that is in demand. Or to open a business that is successful. People underestimate A LOT how much of a role luck plays in successful careers. Sure hard work…

I think “privilege” is just the excuse used by people who aren’t willing to work hard, aren’t willing to put the extra time into learning a new skill, or aren’t willing to acknowledge that they didn’t get blessed genetically. It’s easier to create some label and blame everything on that. “Oh, I’m not rich at age 30. Must be privilege.” “Oh, I got passed over for that promotion. Must be their privilege”. People need t…

[deleted]

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#195

Post by 2143 » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 10:03 AM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #69

bathtub365 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw this posted elsewhere on HN and it really resonated with me. “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and a…

every post here in this post is triggering an existential crisis for me. oh what to do...

And I'm in a 3rd world country making 3rd world salary.

Sure I'd like to get myself into big tech (not necessarily in America). But... I don't even know where to start.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#196

Post by dragonwriter » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 10:07 AM UTC

randallsquared wrote: post #96

nightowl_games wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd have played fewer video games, traveled less, and relaxed on the beach less. This seems totally opposite of what old people say on their death bed. You sound so obsessed with money here. My guess is your probably very wealthy relative to the average peer and your too naive to realize it. You have to keep telling yourself this philosophy to justify not wind surfing in Bali. You think your gonna wind surf when yo…

Old people on their death bed are telling us what they want to do now, couched as what they would have wanted to do. But they made the decisions they did for reasons that seemed good at the time, and it might well be that they'd make the same ones. Wishing things were different is not the same as a plan to make them different. Or, as I've said about this before: why worry about what death-bed you wants? That person l…

> why worry about what death-bed you wants? That person literally has no future, but you do have a future to worry about!

Because death-bed you is the one that knows whether what to present-you is the future worked out satisfactorily or disappointingly.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#197

Post by Broken_Hippo » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 10:14 AM UTC

cercatrova wrote: post #181

RantyDave wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is short. As soon as you have kids you're teleported forwards twenty five years.

That's if you have kids. Many people are choosing not to these days so they get to have the extra money and the time.

Unless you are one of many that are avoiding having children because you already have neither have money nor time.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#198

Post by scotty79 » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 10:29 AM UTC

bcrosby95 wrote: post #189

ipiz0618 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I have that 10 billion, I might want to extend my life just to enjoy it more, like all the rich people do. But right now? I don’t even need to think twice to accept that offer lol. My time isn’t that precious when 50% of it is spent working for food and shelter, and trying to stay fit so that I don’t stop being capable of working.

I'm curious if you have kids? This proposal could be thought of a couple ways. Maybe I prematurely age 20 years? That sounds pretty bad. I'm currently 42. That would make me effectively 62. With twin 3 year olds and a 6 year old. That doesn't sound fun. But what sounds even worse is they won't graduate from high school until I'm 77. Decent odds I would die before then. Even with 10 billion. Fuck that. The other inter…

That was my thought too. Childhood feels so bad to many kids yhat the would happily jump 20 years ahead especially if that meant turning into billionaires. Some of them hope they'll achieve exactly that with effort and luck, and you'd be giving it to them for free.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#199

Post by angrais » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 10:32 AM UTC

MrGilbert wrote: post #173

ryandrake wrote: post #41

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

Yeah, but sometimes… Life hits hard and you‘ll miss out on these days. When I turned 22 in 2008, my mom surprised me with her having sarcoidosis, a disease which will turn functional cells into non-functional ones. Quite an issue when it starts in your lungs. A year later, my father surprised me with him having cancer. Long story short, they passed away in 2013 and 2017. I should also mention that I have four younger…

Why did you raise your younger sister until she was 18? Did she go off to university?

You can also party and fuck around in your 30s. It's different than 20s of course, but still great!

Also, I'd try to refrain from comparing yourself go the "normal" life. You've clearly had a unique journey (beyond "normal" might be in TV shows), and I am certain you've learnt a lot through it.

You're clearly a legend for looking after your family in the way that you did. I am sure your brother's and sisters will appreciate it in the future if they've not made it clear already.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#200

Post by onion2k » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 10:32 AM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #41

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

Go windsurfing for a year in Ibiza after college, and you're adding 5 years to your working life--retiring at 62 instead of 57.

You may have a grand plan to retire at 57, but what if you love the work you're doing then? What if you die at 56? What if your employer is ageist and fires you at 50? What if the economy collapses in 30 years time and wipes out your pension fund? What if your knees give out at 57 and you're confined to your house for your entire retirement?

You're not giving up a year of fun aged 20 for 5 years of fun at 57 - you're trading a year of fun now for the potential of 5 years more fun in the future. Maybe that's a great tradeoff, but if definitely isn't a simple tradeoff. There are deep rabbit holes of probability to explore deciding whether it's worth the risk.