I would work on a Computer Algebra System. Maybe one day, who is to say.
That being said I'm pretty close to my dream job
Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
91–100 of 305 posts
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#92I'd create open-source software for hosting. Something like CapRover. Or take a big sum of money and do algorithmic trading. Or build something in crypto.
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#93I have a real passion for the "Long Now". Understanding how to preserve knowledge for the 10,000 year timeframe. Inspired by everything from Anatheum by Neal Stephenson and subsequently finding the Long Now Foundation and even stupid games like Horizon: Zero Dawn.
I would probably do more on that front than I currently am on the side. It's some balance of actually persisting knowledge in super-durable formats, and persisted knowledge in computer systems (Internet Archive, Arctic Code Vault, LibGen/Anna's Archive)
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#94I’d love to teach math/science to kids. I think I would be very good at it and enjoy it. But the pay really sucks.
At home id setup a shop with a 3d printer, laser cutter, cnc machine, power tools, etc. And I’d spend my free time just making all sorts of fun stuff.
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for sharing. I really look up to people like you as I'd like to semi-retire around 55 too (13 years from now on). I have a question for you: How do you assess your learning ability at 55? Let me explain -- I'd like to pursue studies in some Physics topics when I semi-retire (I can't do that now due to lack of time), but I'm not sure whether my brain is up to the job then. I know you are not studying Physics, b…
My wife and I are 57 years old, so I think I can address this. We finally got the younger child through to grad school and paid off all our debt, and now we can devote our time to what we want to do. Mostly, anyway - I'd like to be doing coding for pay, but instead I do technical translation. But in terms of study - academic work - we're free. She's got a PhD in theoretical physics and has finally had the time to sta…
> Write down your daily thoughts.
Can you elaborate on this? What sorts of daily thoughts did you write down and how did it help you?
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for sharing. I really look up to people like you as I'd like to semi-retire around 55 too (13 years from now on). I have a question for you: How do you assess your learning ability at 55? Let me explain -- I'd like to pursue studies in some Physics topics when I semi-retire (I can't do that now due to lack of time), but I'm not sure whether my brain is up to the job then. I know you are not studying Physics, b…
My wife and I are 57 years old, so I think I can address this. We finally got the younger child through to grad school and paid off all our debt, and now we can devote our time to what we want to do. Mostly, anyway - I'd like to be doing coding for pay, but instead I do technical translation. But in terms of study - academic work - we're free. She's got a PhD in theoretical physics and has finally had the time to sta…
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your sharings. I'm glad that both of you manage to work on things you are interested in.
Did your wife get the PHD recently or when she was young? Reading through the lines I feel it was when she was young but I could definitely be wrong.
I also feel I don't have much to write down every day. Most of the time is spent on work chores or family chores. There are a few happy moments but that's it. May I ask what type of information do you retain?
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#97Probably making LLVM compile times not suck or something.
Someone retire this man.
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#98I am in this situation and I focus on friends, family, hobbies.
I think that most problems in "society" stem from people losing track of these things.
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've met people who were born into enough money they never needed to work, and a lot of them are just pretty normal people sans jobs. I think the interesting question here would be how would you live if you had enough without working, but little enough that you still had to think about how to stretch it over a lifetime. E.g. are you flying first class to spend a few days skiing in the Alps this weekend? Probably not,…
The specifics do matter. You can have a very comfortable month-long international trip for certainly low five figures. (Obviously can do less but a few $K/week for a couple is a reasonable baseline.) You can also quickly add to the tab by picking the luxury hotels, first class flights, limos, etc. that may or may not add a lot to the experience considering. I've traveled a lot and sometimes the splurge is really wort…
I agree - I've travelled enough on my own dime and the corporate one to know that you definitely don't want to get the cheapest room on Expedia, but satisfaction doesn't scale linearly with the amount you spend. Filet mignon doesn't automatically beat a nice warm rock to sit on.
Re: Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?
#100Farming, beekeeping and moving around on a horse.