I’ve had the same supper for 10 years • Hacker News Board

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#571

Post by slothtrop » Sat, May 08, 2021, 2:54 PM UTC

noofen wrote: post #31

lmm wrote: post #6

How incredibly small-minded. I respect people who've tried something and decided it's not for them. But to never even try a different kind of food? I suspect it's less that he's found what he likes and more that he's scared he'd find out he actually liked something else better, and has wasted those 10 years.

> How incredibly small-minded. How incredibly patronizing. Have you considered that people have different tastes? Personally, I hate eating; if I could take a pill to replace all my nutrition needs, I would in a heartbeat, even if it costs more than my current dietary expenses.

I think it's in reference to the rationalizations made in the article. It's perfectly sufficient to have preferences. But the author makes irrational projections about what change might be like to justify his choice.

I think "stick with what you know" can be a sound strategy if you are loss-averse and generally content.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#572

Post by DangitBobby » Sat, May 08, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

notjes wrote: post #356

telesilla wrote: post #266

"This valley is cut in the shape of my heart". I've known farmers like him, bachelors who are mild mannered and love their lives and the extended family that comes with living an entire life in one valley. He maybe goes to Sunday service for socialization and the local pub to watch the game, and as long as his sheep are healthy and the sky does what it promises (because he knows the day before always if it will rain)…

This man is independent. The powers that are, hiss in horror at his sighting, because they want him in a cubicle and in debt.

He's not independent. Caretakers, probably state funded, come and provide care to his sister. The "powers that are" are providing for both of their general wellbeing.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#573

Post by tomrod » Sat, May 08, 2021, 2:55 PM UTC

raffraffraff wrote: post #349

beaner wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a close-minded view. Children are great but they're just more people with their own experiences, like this man. And it seems rare these days that they might be as naturally at-one with the world around them as he is.

I hear you. In not sure if want to be raising kids today. I had a moment in my 20s where I just stopped and thought, "Every single ancestor I had from my parents back to algae had offspring. What if I don't?" If you consider the whole Ocean as history, and the present moment as a single solitary wave heading towards the shore, and your life as the surfer on that wave, it doesn't matter what came before you. What matt…

I have three kids.

It is wonderful.

Tiring, taxing, exhilarating, inspiring.

It works for me. I make no claims for others.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#574

Post by coldtea » Sat, May 08, 2021, 2:56 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #105

coldtea wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or think they enjoy it. People can fool themselves in many ways. There are however negative health effects, and have been studied quite well.

Are there studies that actually show that? It seem to me that lower life expectancy might be true in some cases but not all. I think it's mostly tied to ones enjoyment of being alone (more relative than absolute). Sure some people would not fare well, bit I fo believe other can be truly happy and do fair well. I know a guy in his 70s that lives pretty remotely in Alaska (and have you ever read one man's wilderness).…

>I'm not saying it's for everyone. I am saying that it's essentially stereotyping to say it not for anyone.

Well, someone can smoke for 60 years, from 20 year old onwards, and never get cancer either. Actually, tons do just that. But lung cancer from smoking is not "stereotyping", it's a causual mechanism and a statistical reality.

It's not like that you mechanically and deterministically die or your health becomes predictably worse at the individual level.

Not to mention there's also the psychological health and the developmental effect.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#575

Post by slothtrop » Sat, May 08, 2021, 2:56 PM UTC

Farmers typically describe their animals as happy. This doesn't jive with the depictions made by activists vegans of even non-commercial farming.

One of you is wrong. Which is it?

That aside, articles like these are more about convincing the author than anyone else in my view. That doesn't necessarily mean he's wrong. See for example Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. He repeatedly mulls over the prospect of death, with aphorisms to suggest it's nothing to be afraid of. Death was on his mind. This farmer seems to focus on conveying that he has every reason to be happy. It's no coincidence that suicide rates are highest among farmers - is this man simply built different, or is he convincing himself?

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#576

Post by Aaargh20318 » Sat, May 08, 2021, 2:57 PM UTC

kaladin_1 wrote: post #510

tirant wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It saddens me to read such nihilistic comments here. Specially based on such clichés. Under which metric is the planet complete ruined? and why do you think it's overpopulated? what's then the maximum number of people that should live on this planet according to you, and based on what? Under lots of metrics, today's planet is a much healthier and prosperous place to live for humankind than it was 100 or even 50 years…

I so much appreciate your point of view! I don't understand those nihilist statements as well. Looks like Satre's smoke has permeated most minds. We are having this convo because someone had a child. If someone really thought and believed life isn't a great thing (equating a stone wall to a human being) he'd be either a dishonest person or a weakling to be alive educating us. For if he truly believes children and hum…

> For if he truly believes children and humans are all nothing, then, why toil in vain. Why procrastinate, why suffer at all for nothing.

Because suicide is vastly different from never having been born at all. Like every animal people have an extremely strong survival instinct. So strong that people have to be under extreme physical or mental pain before they consider taking their own lives.

This is not an argument for procreation but against it. It adds to the absolute horror that is life.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#577

Post by slothtrop » Sat, May 08, 2021, 3:00 PM UTC

diehunde wrote: post #180

Trying to eat something different everyday is an American obsession that I'll never understand. It's just so stressful and inconvenient. I grew up in a small town where eating the same for dinner everyday was extremely common. Tea or coffee and bread. The only variable would be what you put in your bread. Some days it would be butter, some days it would jam. Some days it would be honey, some days it would be avocado.

> It's just so stressful and inconvenient.

So is tending to a farm.

We need some amount of stressors in our lives to keep from feeling bored and stagnant. Exercise is literally an imposition of stress, but increases our well-being. Really a matter of picking your poison.

Farming might be samey, but if something is hard work it's also stressful.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#578

Post by CalRobert » Sat, May 08, 2021, 3:02 PM UTC

livinginfear wrote: post #436

CalRobert wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In enough generations, not one atom of your descendent's DNA will be specifically yours. The impact of your parenting will be diluted. The time spent on parenting shuts off an infinity of other options. I adore my children but the ways we enrich our culture and those around us matters just as much as our kids. And besides, why should a well-lived life look the same for him as for others?

> ...not one atom of your descendent's DNA will be specifically yours. Ignoring the fact that you are probably not correct scientifically speaking, I think that the constitution of your descendants is figuratively , symbolically , if not scientifically, yours (please pardon my English). It's yours because you played an entirely crucial role in creating this lineage. Whatever path it took after your role in it, that p…

I take the view that it's more optimistic, and our impact is felt in many ways, parenting being one of them, but I take your point.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#579

Post by alisonatwork » Sat, May 08, 2021, 3:06 PM UTC

chubbyish wrote: post #309

nessex wrote: post #94

I've found a lot of freedom in similar decisions. Not sure I could take it to the same level, but even just having a small set of meals to eat every week makes shopping, cooking and planning around expiry dates so much easier. Clothes can be similarly hacked such that everything goes together and every combination is something you are comfortable wearing, leaving you never needing to consider what to wear. I've optim…

Cooking is enjoyable and you can get the same flow state cooking that you can coding. And it’s where you can let your mind wander and come up with sparks of new ideas/approaches. Soylent is terrible for your insides.

I also find cooking enjoyable, but I would hate it if it just became an extension of work! One of the reasons why I continue to cook dinner every night despite having a fairly minimal life in other aspects is because it's a set of physical actions that helps to get my brain out of work mode. This is especially important during pandemic/work-from-home era because there is no commute (I used to cycle).

But this experience of finding value in cooking is not really universal. I have some friends who legitimately, actively dislike the process. It's not that they're bad at it, they just consider it a waste of time. For them Soylent, or a food delivery service might be just fine.

I think the key is to aggressively optimize out the things in your life that aren't working for you. We shouldn't feel like we "need" to do things just to have a "normal" life, I think that's one of the causes of stress and unhappiness for a lot of people.

Re: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years

#580

Post by mrphoebs » Sat, May 08, 2021, 3:08 PM UTC

randallsquared wrote: post #503

mrphoebs wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not dwindling others experiences against the vastness of the universe. I'm merely pointing out the absurdity of the parent comment that somehow elevates the meaningfulness of having kids over building a stone wall. My position is neither is any less or more meaningful beyond individual experience.

Of the people that lived 100K years ago, we have almost nothing. Possibly some cave paintings, though the vast majority of art from then must be gone. However, every single person alive today is descended from people who lived then. You may or may not find that meaningful, but it would be hard to disagree that having children was the most impactful course of action available to anyone alive then. The same is true for…

Fossilised remains in the sediments on earth are all that remain of the species that have come and gone before us. Many species are lost to time, because they weren't fossilised or their effects preserved. And our fossilised remains will be lost to the cosmos as well. You experiencing humanity in the midst of it might make it seem substantial. But we are a genus a mere 2 million years old and a species as young as 200000 years. For comparison, the dinosaurs roamed the earth for 165 million years. All of human history is 200000 years, again seems of consequence to us because we are participants in it but on the grand scale really isn't.

Does that mean we shouldn't just bother, absolutely not, we are given this gift of experiencing life. Something rather than nothingness...etc. But we can do with a little more perspective on how utterly inconsequential we are in the grand scheme of things. Having kids seems consequential in the context of human existence, but when human existence is inconsequential (there is no lasting impact or transmission of information beyond our temporary side-effects on the environment) it puts our existence into perspective.