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Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

writings.stephenwolfram.com

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Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#41

Post by holler »

surfsvammel wrote: post #39
dmje wrote: post #35

My intuition is that all of the benefit you get being outside and walking is probably lost by strapping a laptop to yourself and being on calls the whole time. Call me old fashioned but I'm outside to look at the sea, hear the birds and be very definitely away from my tech.

For the last year or so I have scheduled my two status meetings back to back in the mornings. That means I have 90 minutes of walking in the forrest in the morning (30min before the meetings and then 30min each for the two meetings). I have two teams reporting to me, and each have a 30minute morning meeting where we decide what needs the team attention during the day. There is also room for small talk to keep it a bi…

> Walking in the forrest have two benefits; it’s less chance to get hit by a car, and it’s more quiet of a background for when I unmute.

More than that, it's very cathartic and peaceful. I used to live next to a big park on the Puget Sound and I would do a similar routine, in addition to occasionally taking a stroll through the park (effectively a forest) at lunch.

It had a very calming effect, def miss that!

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#42

Post by iamdbtoo »

renewiltord wrote: post #27
jeliotj wrote: post #14

I've always found Stephen Wolfram's thoughts to be overly self indulgent, and this is no exception. But it is illuminating since it reveals what I most loathe: the productive life. Being productive is not a good. It leads to wanting to attach a computer to oneself while going on a walk outdoors!

This is a common sentiment on the Internet. But when I look around at the people I know, none of the people who are anti-productivity are people I admire. In fact, the pro-productivity people do much more of everything with better outcomes. - The pro-productivity people are more involved parents and family members - The pro-productivity people are more involved in hobbies - The pro-productivity people create many mor…

> It appears, empirically from my sample set, that being pro-productivity correlates with spending one's life meaningfully.

I think many people have wildly different ideas about what makes a life meaningful and even more about what is a productive use of time.

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#43

Post by BaseballPhysics »

renewiltord wrote: post #27
jeliotj wrote: post #14

I've always found Stephen Wolfram's thoughts to be overly self indulgent, and this is no exception. But it is illuminating since it reveals what I most loathe: the productive life. Being productive is not a good. It leads to wanting to attach a computer to oneself while going on a walk outdoors!

This is a common sentiment on the Internet. But when I look around at the people I know, none of the people who are anti-productivity are people I admire. In fact, the pro-productivity people do much more of everything with better outcomes. - The pro-productivity people are more involved parents and family members - The pro-productivity people are more involved in hobbies - The pro-productivity people create many mor…

> But when I look around at the people I know, none of the people who are anti-productivity are people I admire.

It's interesting to me that you think the opposite of "pro-productivity"--which I define as people who are constantly engaging in life hacks to increase their perceived "productivity", and thus treat productivity as some kind of end unto itself--is "anti-productivity".

Could we agree that the healthy thing lies somewhere in the middle?

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#44

Post by cableshaft »

renewiltord wrote: post #27
jeliotj wrote: post #14

I've always found Stephen Wolfram's thoughts to be overly self indulgent, and this is no exception. But it is illuminating since it reveals what I most loathe: the productive life. Being productive is not a good. It leads to wanting to attach a computer to oneself while going on a walk outdoors!

This is a common sentiment on the Internet. But when I look around at the people I know, none of the people who are anti-productivity are people I admire. In fact, the pro-productivity people do much more of everything with better outcomes. - The pro-productivity people are more involved parents and family members - The pro-productivity people are more involved in hobbies - The pro-productivity people create many mor…

> The pro-productivity people are more involved parents and family members

I haven't seen this amongst several people I know as pro-productivity. The productivity tends to be hyper-focused on work and side hustles/creative, and family/parental duties seemed to be neglected as a result. But I couldn't find any data on this with a quick search, so it's just conflicting anecdata to your anecdata.

Your other bullet points do align more with my experience, but not this one.

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#45

Post by _boffin_ »

jeliotj wrote: post #14

I've always found Stephen Wolfram's thoughts to be overly self indulgent, and this is no exception. But it is illuminating since it reveals what I most loathe: the productive life. Being productive is not a good. It leads to wanting to attach a computer to oneself while going on a walk outdoors!

I find that you’re projecting your thoughts and lifestyle onto his lifestyle choice. Just stop as it does nobody any good.

What’s wrong with attaching a computer to oneself while walking outdoors? Does he have the same intrinsic motivators as you? Probably not. Does it matter? Probably not.

What about people that go outside and just read? Is that not a good life?

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#46

Post by 1970-01-01 »

>But one inevitably needs some flat surface, if only just to sign things (it’s not all digital yet), or to eat a snack. So my solution is to have pullouts. If one needs them, pull them out. But one can’t leave them pulled out, so nothing can accumulate on them.

This is a great tip. Get a desk with pull-outs. I have them on the left and right. They're 1/2 an inch think and strong enough to leave a heavy book, laptop, or whatever until you're done. When both sides get pulled out, some paper-heavy task is occurring, such as taxes.

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#47

Post by yamtaddle »

_boffin_ wrote: post #45
jeliotj wrote: post #14

I've always found Stephen Wolfram's thoughts to be overly self indulgent, and this is no exception. But it is illuminating since it reveals what I most loathe: the productive life. Being productive is not a good. It leads to wanting to attach a computer to oneself while going on a walk outdoors!

I find that you’re projecting your thoughts and lifestyle onto his lifestyle choice. Just stop as it does nobody any good. What’s wrong with attaching a computer to oneself while walking outdoors? Does he have the same intrinsic motivators as you? Probably not. Does it matter? Probably not. What about people that go outside and just read? Is that not a good life?

He's the one who posted it online. Fine if others post that they think it's bad, and why. Laudable, even, if you suppose he posted it to communicate some message and others find that message to be harmful or misleading or otherwise bad. They ought to post what they think is wrong with it.

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#48

Post by dang »

adamredwoods wrote: post #17

Previously (still a good re-read!): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26045380 I have the problem of flat surfaces, I've been trying hard to figure out a better way for incoming papers (bills, to read, to investigate, to shred).

Thanks! Macroexpanded:

Seeking the Productive Life: Some Details of My Personal Infrastructure (2019) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26045380 - Feb 2021 (63 comments)

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#49

Post by dang »

testfoobar wrote: post #12

Quoted post unavailable.

Please let's not do Wolfram Derangement Syndrome in HN threads—if not for Wolfram, at least for ourselves. This was already a cliché a decade ago.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

#50

Post by dang »

zabzonk wrote: post #20
testfoobar wrote: post #12

Quoted post unavailable.

no idea why this was downvoted, except possibly by people who don't know about wolfram

For starters, it was snarky, a shallow dismissal, a personal attack, unsubstantive, and an internet trope.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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