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Children and Helical Time

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Re: Children and Helical Time

#71

Post by visarga »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #52
smokel wrote: post #6

> This is a depressing thought to consider in (linear) middle age, but it is hard to escape the feeling that it is essentially true. Childhood memories have an intensity and a vibrancy that it is difficult for the rest of life to match. Could anyone who is extremely fortunate and never had to work for money share their experience on this? I find that the years that I spent on art (playing around, learning new things,…

Last few years I've been my own boss mostly doing whatever I feel like with several years funds comfortable and no real pressure to do or die. Time hasn't really slowed down. I also took a year completely off work in 2016, that one also passed very quickly. If anything, having new experiences is what seems to slow down time in my experience. Visiting new locations, doing and learning new things. I suppose more things…

In the present moment, time passes slow when something boring or painful happens, and passes fast for exciting or pleasant experiences.

But in hindsight, time passes slow in periods where you had many new experiences and is almost missing in periods of routine.

So an exciting experience might be fast in the moment and slow in hindsight.

Re: Children and Helical Time

#72

Post by bombcar »

JacWpthrowaway wrote: post #30
smokel wrote: post #6

> This is a depressing thought to consider in (linear) middle age, but it is hard to escape the feeling that it is essentially true. Childhood memories have an intensity and a vibrancy that it is difficult for the rest of life to match. Could anyone who is extremely fortunate and never had to work for money share their experience on this? I find that the years that I spent on art (playing around, learning new things,…

Never been rich but .. who's richer, the one who has more stuff / buying power or the one who has less material needs? Anyway, I was always pretty frugal and lucked out on passive income 6 years ago but even before that I never had full time jobs and all my life I basically worked just enough to get by, never cared much about saving. From my experience childhood felt like grinding my way to max level in an MMO. Had t…

The MMO is a really great example because “working life” is often compared to raiding end-game dungeons (or vice versa).

Some really enjoy that, but the journey to max level was always more interesting to me.

There is a way to reroll; at least vicariously.

Re: Children and Helical Time

#73

Post by steveBK123 »

Taek wrote: post #68

Childhood is only half of subjective life if you stagnate as an adult. If you keep changing your routine, you'll find each year has just as much subjective experience as the previous. Start a company in an industry where you have no experience. Move to a country where nobody speaks a language you understand. Find a new sport and commit to being a top 0.1% participant (for most sports that don't air regularly on natio…

Right its a weird take for me too. Childhood was fun sure, but you were stuck in a time/place not of your choosing, with others making many/most decisions for you.

As an adult, especially a well paid SWE like many on HN.. you can create the life, make the decisions and have the experiences that you want. Your life is as vibrant as you choose it to be.

Much of the stuff I used to read about or watch on TV as a precocious child.. I can just go buy/see/do with the agency & money I have as an adult.

Sure you have a 9-5 (or 8-6, or 7-7) job but you used to go to school and after school activities all day as a kid probably too. It’s your choice to do something or nothing with your hours of free time after work and weekends.

Small children in the picture adds additional time constraints, but should also bring additional vividness/subjective time experience to your life.

Re: Children and Helical Time

#75

Post by Loughla »

Taek wrote: post #68

Childhood is only half of subjective life if you stagnate as an adult. If you keep changing your routine, you'll find each year has just as much subjective experience as the previous. Start a company in an industry where you have no experience. Move to a country where nobody speaks a language you understand. Find a new sport and commit to being a top 0.1% participant (for most sports that don't air regularly on natio…

You also don't have to do anything extreme. . .

If life is moving too fast, then make specific choices to slow down. Take up hiking or camping. Do things with your family if that's a valid option for you. Turn your phone off. Be mindful of your body and emotions.

Lots of small things that can help you slow down a little.

Re: Children and Helical Time

#76

Post by jimmydddd »

steveBK123 wrote: post #73
Taek wrote: post #68

Childhood is only half of subjective life if you stagnate as an adult. If you keep changing your routine, you'll find each year has just as much subjective experience as the previous. Start a company in an industry where you have no experience. Move to a country where nobody speaks a language you understand. Find a new sport and commit to being a top 0.1% participant (for most sports that don't air regularly on natio…

Right its a weird take for me too. Childhood was fun sure, but you were stuck in a time/place not of your choosing, with others making many/most decisions for you. As an adult, especially a well paid SWE like many on HN.. you can create the life, make the decisions and have the experiences that you want. Your life is as vibrant as you choose it to be. Much of the stuff I used to read about or watch on TV as a precoci…

I share this view. I didn't feel like my life began until I graduated college, got a job, and moved out on my own.

Re: Children and Helical Time

#77

Post by bombcar »

barishnamazov wrote: post #67
throw_away_623 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I sometimes wonder if this is what happens when people get older and happened to me early, or if it's just a personality trait. It's a cliché but I (almost 50 years old) have found that when you get older, you notice patterns, Something "new" is often just an incremental improvement or two existing things combined. Rust doesn't excite me much, and Go seems too boring to use for my side projects. Elixir + Phoenix Li…

Thanks for sharing insight. I also feel like a couple decades ago, technology was also reasonably simple and understandable. Right now, everything is obfuscated and complex. Maybe that's natural, but makes it harder to get excited about seeing new things. Similar to you, I don't care about mobile phones anymore. Instead of fancy hardware or features what I care is simple, secure, and private phone (open-source OS). I…

There’s a term “geek out” or similar for getting deep into the details of something; especially technology. But it’s rare and not really needed for the use of it - there are people who geek out over phones or model trains or LEGO, etc.

But for most of things in life you just need to use them.

The hard part is finding something to geek out on that doesn’t turn you into a curmudgeon insisting everyone is “doing it wrong”.

Re: Children and Helical Time

#78

Post by jstummbillig »

Loughla wrote: post #75
Taek wrote: post #68

Childhood is only half of subjective life if you stagnate as an adult. If you keep changing your routine, you'll find each year has just as much subjective experience as the previous. Start a company in an industry where you have no experience. Move to a country where nobody speaks a language you understand. Find a new sport and commit to being a top 0.1% participant (for most sports that don't air regularly on natio…

You also don't have to do anything extreme. . . If life is moving too fast, then make specific choices to slow down. Take up hiking or camping. Do things with your family if that's a valid option for you. Turn your phone off. Be mindful of your body and emotions. Lots of small things that can help you slow down a little.

> You also don't have to do anything extreme

I think most people I meet would benefit from reframing what they consider to be extreme.

Re: Children and Helical Time

#79

Post by bombcar »

nostrademons wrote: post #35
nrhrjrjrjtntbt wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would.im theory make kids the best at certain sports like table tennis say. Is there an objective test?

That is largely true across a variety of sports. eSports like Starcraft typically peak between 18-22, and it's possible the real age is younger but minors are usually excluded from pro leagues because they can't sign contracts. Gymnastics seems to peak between age 13-16; it was enough of a problem that the FIG set an age limit of 16 so the sport wasn't dominated by prepubescent girls age 13-14 (18 for men because the…

Part of the gymnastics thing is flexibility of the young; if toddlers could be coordinated and strong enough they’d likely dominate as they can contort their bodies into positions impossible for adults.

Re: Children and Helical Time

#80

Post by jstummbillig »

bombcar wrote: post #69
Taek wrote: post #68

Childhood is only half of subjective life if you stagnate as an adult. If you keep changing your routine, you'll find each year has just as much subjective experience as the previous. Start a company in an industry where you have no experience. Move to a country where nobody speaks a language you understand. Find a new sport and commit to being a top 0.1% participant (for most sports that don't air regularly on natio…

Amusingly enough, one of the easiest way to serve yourself curveballs is to have children of your own. You then are no longer in control of your house, schedule, or really much. And you have someone to cheer on.

A child is from the parents perspective a lot of repetitive motion over a very long time, and, I think, a main contributor to speeding up your relative passage of time.

Which you might find super rewarding! But I am fairly confused by the claim that children are interesting and wonder how people spent their pre-children time to arrive at that conclusion – or how much they actually are involved in all the parts of taking care of their kid.

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