7 ms·
Ask HN: What would you do if your income was taken care of?
- curiousgeek 9y agoA similar thread from earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12018713 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12018713
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- democracy 9y agoBesides two chicks at the same time?
- quickthrower2 9y agoFor a few months: Relax, watch netflix, eat out alot, do a few holidays. Then after that do a Phd. Are you offering?
- notaboutdave 9y agoExactly what I'm doing right now. Money doesn't change anything.
- Someone1234 9y agoMy kids would have two full time parents. Once they're at school or similar I'd likely return to school myself "just because." I cannot answer more fully without understanding what my income situation really looked like (e.g. how secure, static vs. inflation adjusted, etc).
- cottonseed 9y agoPick up where I left off with arachne-pnr [1] and work on open-source EDA tools. [1] https://github.com/cseed/arachne-pnr https://github.com/cseed/arachne-pnr
- ryanjmo 9y agoI ski a lot and work very lightly on things that interest me. I would like to have kids as well.
- chamza 9y agoI'd focus more on my music, fine art, and try to make a hand-drawn animated film. I'd spend more time growing my own food, tending to the garden, and raising animals. I do all of this in my spare time anyway, it'd be nice to dedicate more time to it though. Alas.
- partingshots 9y agoComputational biology, protein simulation specifically.
- corporateguy5 9y agoYes! Protein folding could unlock huge areas of human progress
- alasdair_ 9y agoFinish my book. Change the world.
- cm2012 9y agoPlay Starcraft for the rest of my life. Never do anything resembling work again.
- OkGoDoIt 9y agoI would spend more of my daytime outside in the sun. Also more impromptu travel. Those are probably my two least favorite things about having a day job: I’m inside for the best part of the day and I have to plan my travel far in advance around crowded and expensive holidays rather than taking random midweek trips when things are cheap and empty. I’d probably keep programming, because some programming is fun. And I’d spend more time working at my theater even though they don’t pay me because I care about it in a way I will never care about my day job. But also define “taken care of”. Currently I make more money than my parents combined yet I can still barely afford a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco. Any nationally reasonable level of universal basic income wouldn’t be nearly enough to get by with a comfortable life in the city. So maybe I would have to move? Not the worst thing in the world, but something to think about when people propose universal basic income, what’s the definition of universal?
- nurettin 9y agoI would ask for more.
- digitalpacman 9y agoI'd spend all my time making a digital product.
- M00nF1sh 9y agolove my girl, and travel with her for the rest of life
- ilaksh 9y agoI have multiple projects I would like to do. Not sure it would be feasible to do them all at once, but if there was extra money (interpreting 'taken care of' loosely) suppose I could hire people to help me with some of them etc. I have a lot of specific ideas for sustainable affordable housing, artificial muscles, AGI, a 3d programmable libretro frontend (already started), a skid-steer hotrod, and a new type of restaurant. Right now the Bitcoin trading startup takes most of my time though.
- fian 9y agoResearch and development on something likely to improve lives or benefit society. Non-profitable pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, environmental restoration etc.
- muzani 9y agoJust enough? Work on mobile app gaming, mostly things people haven't touched. Converting TVTropes into a story generator. Gamifying productivity apps. Minimalizing popular PC games like X-Com, roguelikes and Transport Tycoon into something that can be comfortably played on mobile without squinting. If I had more money, I'd love to do an accelerator to invest in marginal ideas. These dumb ideas that have no intention of going past $1M. The kind of things that regularly appear on Indie Hackers, like Ghost. They may not be growth oriented, they can have single founders, they can be done part time and more importantly, without an expensive team. No pressure to become a unicorn. I think it's an untapped market that also doesn't have to worry about competing with Silicon Valley.
- boredyeti 9y agoThat's a good idea! An accelerator for side-jobs or single-founder companies that aren't looking for more than a monthly salary and want to be their own bosses. They'll be getting an investment of a minimum yearly salary to just get by for 20% of their company. Nice.
- RepressedEmu 9y agoI've been thinking along these exact lines lately too! Giving a boost to solopreneurs who can churn out 6-10 MVPs a year and then accelerating the projects that survive into a growth stage. Do you know of anyone already doing anything similar?
- zaptheimpaler 9y agoI would travel until i found home again
- tedmiston 9y agoTravel and write more Improve data literacy / education
- autotune 9y agoPlay music professionally, contribute to Ansible or Chef in the downtime.
- erik_seaberg 9y agoI'd try to contribute to something like formal verification and denotational semantics. I don't believe everyone's software needs to be as terrible as it is, but I don't see much investment in working on the problem or openings without a graduate degree. Also more Dwarf Fortress.
- eucryphia 9y agoThat's about to happen to me, I'm about to retire on a defined pension. I'll pick up some easy contract work to make an additional $10k a year to spend on travel. I'd like to develop some simple small businesses but I'd be wasting a lot of my time battling Australian Govt. red tape. There is an opportunity to set up co-working spaces in small regional towns and affordable quality aged-care facilities but, again, the Govt. regulatory overreach would not make it much fun.
- tonmoy 9y agoUse the extra money to fund a scholarship
- africasiaeuro 9y agoHypothetical question - inspiring though. Travel more, writing books, being more selective in general, with people and countries visiting , meet Emily in person ; boost my ig Nicecotedazur1 , play Golf, live healthier yet , spend more time in prayer .. That's all folks
- hanniabu 9y ago- More time in the sun - Help causes for endangered animals - Design basic utility systems for 3rd world - Design more efficient hydroponic systems - Research & document hydroponic best growth conditions based off various variable such as apparatus, medium, and plant - Design better ecology systems for land restoration All these would be done over a lifetime as they're all pretty in-depth and timely endevours.
- PascLeRasc 9y agoI'd spend a lot of time cycling every day and try to compete. It's what I've always wanted to do but I'll never have the 5-6 free hours/day and full energy to really commit to it unless I win the lottery.
- randomsearch 9y agoDon’t you think you could work part-time and do this? It may require sacrifices, but if you know what you want to do then don’t spend your life not doing it.
- PascLeRasc 9y agoI'm hoping to be able to do that soon. Right now school keeps me busy 8am-1am so there isn't much free time.
- fiftyacorn 9y agoIm the same - id just want to cycle and spend time with my family. I had a friend who done this - hed drop the kids at school then cycle for a few hours, then pick them up
- jmnicolas 9y agoI would walk to Santiago De Compostella and back home, a bit north of 4000 kilometers. I can't say what I would do after, since this kind of experience changes someone deeply (and I'm saying this as a non religious person).
- framebit 9y agoHowdy, in a former life I co-edited this documentary: https://www.travelightfilm.com/ https://www.travelightfilm.com/ It's been doing the festival circuit and should be released digitally in 2018. I didn't walk the trail myself, but it was amazing to steep in these stories during the editing process.
- 0xfaded 9y agoI'm working on making my BlueROV an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle). Boils down to making monocular SLAM work underwater on a raspberry pi or similar. I think I have a path to commercialising the software, but if money was no issue I'd probably build a lionfish vacuum cleaner and gobble the suckers out of the Atlantic. More fun than hull inspections.
- ptr_void 9y agoStudy philosophy of mind
- millzlane 9y agoI live in Baltimore. My city just broke 318 homicides. To give you an idea our record is 353. Our police are catching kids as young as 12 with firearms. Kids as young as 14 in brutal armed robberies. If I didn't have to worry about income. I would create arcades all over the city. Complete with huge computer labs and tons of video games. My goal is to create a positive environment that kids WANT to be in. They'd receive help with school and home work, have access to the internet, tons of video games books and movies. I really just want to get the kids off of the street. There are lots of kids here that don't have two parents that care if they succeed or not. Teach them things like how to deal with their emotions and things like conflict resolution. When I was a kid I had "play all day" arcades for $5. I can't imagine the trouble I would have gotten into if I didn't have that arcade or our library wasn't accessible. I'm in a position now where I can either leave the hood and fend for myself and my family. Or I can try and do something to make a difference. I've even considered quitting my job to pursue this. If income was no worry, I would do this.
- legacynl 9y agoNice idea, I do suspect the effect would be minimal though. It's not because they're bored these kids get into trouble.
- millzlane 9y agoAgreed. I think things like mindfulness, mentoring and conflict resolution would also go a long way. This would be more than a place to cure boredom. Think of it like the wholesome family's house in the neighborhood that no kid wants to leave. It gives them a place to learn and explore the world and themselves. This also would be aimed at a 10-14 age range. So hopefully catching them before entering the stage when they're not really thinking clearly.
- JBlue42 9y agoHave you worked with any gang/police task forces to get their perspective? Maybe there's something you can start that doesn't rely on a whole lot of money.
- playing_colours 9y agoI would study full time mathematics and work on mathematical software. I really want to help Julia with libs. In addition, I ll spend more time doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and improving my body.
- noir_lord 9y agoProgram for charities/non-profits, cycle more and go back uni to finish my degree. I'd probably consider doing another degree after in either history or politics.
- hkmurakami 9y agoSame thing I'm doing now.
- maxharris 9y agoThe entire question is based on an invalid premise. Specifically this notion that there exists a vast sum of money without strings attached. Ever hear the expression, "he who pays the piper calls the tune?" When something is "taken care of," that implies that someone else is doing the thinking and choosing. Look at where this leads: What would you do if your meals were taken care of? What would you do if your clothes were taken care of? What would you do if your travel arrangements were taken care of? What would you do if your hobbies were taken care of? What would you do if your home were taken care of? What would you do if your reading was taken care of? What would you do if your romantic life was taken care of? What would you do if your choice to have and/or raise children was taken care of? What would you do if your whole life was taken care of?
- efferifick 9y agoI would probably go to art school.
- ribasushi 9y agoIf my debts/rent/food were truly and reliably taken care of? I would invest all my energy and anger, 25 hours/day, using every contact and connection I have, in an attempt to displace the current shitshow of "software engineering" with a true engineering society[1]. Or to put it in another way: I would not rest until the vast majority of HN readers are out of their job writing software. Too much is at stake. I expect to get on this in 5~10 years either way: I sadly had to take a break from tilting at windmills when my debts crossed into 6 digits. Hopefully it is not too late by then. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_ethics#General_principles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_ethics#General_pri...
- devbot9 9y agoIn your opinion, what is the biggest failing of software engineering now that you hope to correct with a "true" engineering society?
- ribasushi 9y agoIn short ( and in very broad strokes ): there is virtually zero respect for the enduser's time[1]. And there are no incentives ( regulatory or otherwise ) for things to get better on this front. [1] Note - I literally mean "time". Not security/privacy/safety/property, but more fundamentally and simply "time". Or in way better words: https://youtu.be/upu0gwGi4FE?t=1548 https://youtu.be/upu0gwGi4FE?t=1548
- MrQuincle 9y agoThere's so much to do! Set up businesses: + Wireless charging at distances of 2-3 meter. This will start a revolution of chip-based things for real. The main obstacle now is that no one wants to charge these all the time. + Artificial meat. It has the potential to reduce animal suffering tremendously. + Aquafarming. Create robotic infrastructure at sea that autonomously harvest algae. The 3D space potentially grows many more crops than on land. + 3D farming on land. If we don't rely on green houses and normal land we are much more resilient against the sun going dark by supervulcanos or comet impacts. I also think we should keep fossil fuels as a backup plan for those dark days. + Combine road, solar, and shadow infrastructure in North Africa. Tap the sun in such way that it benefits the continent. Legislation plans: + Organizing UAV airlanes above roads. By licensing these to private companies the government can get a lot of money as with the 4G auctions. Plus, we finally can get to autonomous flying in logistics. Write books + One popular science on tech. One attempt of literature. Learn Arabic and Chinese. Try to make Europe democratic again. Fly to talk to people I admire and spend time with them.
- relaxman 9y agoWork on achieving human biological immortality.
- democracy 9y agoWhat a Miss Universe stage you got here. Yet my funny "2 chicks" comment (which is an Office Space quote) got flagged? Damn!
- minikomi 9y agoFinally ascend in Brogue, then go bike touring indefinitely.
- Hamatti 9y agoI would do what I do now with much less stress. 1) I teach programming to beginners and mentor juniors to help them bridge the gap to become employed faster and in more interesting jobs. I currently run a pro bono mentoring program and would expand that a lot. 2) I run a meetup group for frontend developers and would spend bit more resources on growing that and creating more opportunities for developers in the area to learn from each other. 3) I organize a tech conference and would continue doing that, devoting even more of my daily time for it. 4) I help young entrepreneurs with their ideas and offer mentoring for them (and access to my network of contacts) but hate when I have to say no due to not having enough time. 5) I would also spend more time playing board games and enjoying time with my game buddies.
- jenkstom 9y agoAttempt to resolve the rural EMS divide with software, remote training and IT services.
- irremediable 9y agoProbably academic research (similar to what I do now), but in more of a moonshot attempt. A bit more mathematically involved than what I currently do. More open source contributions. More larpwriting and fiction writing. To some extent this one's always sunk by procrastination, though. :P Visit my family more. I should do this anyway, but I'm on a lowish income and it's expensive to visit them. Oh, more political involvement! All the current meetings of my local party's group are scheduled immediately after work. Free time would really help with that.
- IpV8 9y agoI'd start off super productive, but realistically I'd probably end up staying home all day playing video games and working on projects around the house until my social isolation left me wallowing in depression.
- SirLJ 9y agoMine is already taken care of, but I still work my day job, because I love my team and don't want to leave them yet... Every year is my last year (and I am buying a boat to ravel the world), and here I am still leading the team... So be careful what you wish for, sometime it is not that easy and obvious...
- matt_the_bass 9y agoTravel more with my kids. Teach more workshops at community maker spaces and training programs. Mentor more kids. Scuba dive more.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- matchmike1313 9y agoSpend 6 months traveling the world and then I would get back to what I am doing now. I love to code and I don't ever want to "retire" from it.
- bluejellybean 9y agoThe dream I have is to 'retire' early and contribute to open-source full-time. Hopefully I'll get there some day.
- billylo 9y agoHelp build a high-throughput, low-latency brain-computer interface.
- ambivalents 9y agoI would write a book, cycle a lot, and improve my drawing and music skills. I would fill my entire day with creating, exercise, and people to love.
- cafard 9y agoTeach (as I do now, ESL in a parish program, but maybe more), tutor, travel.
- jetti 9y agoI would want contribute to more Open Source projects, probably pursue a PhD and maybe a few more Master's degrees. But honestly, I'd probably get pulled into the trap known as PS4 and accomplish nothing.
- tmaly 9y agoI would create something for early learning and creativity for young kids if I was in a situation where my income was taken care of.
- jasonkester 9y agoFirst step was to take the kids out of school and go traveling through Southeast Asia for half a year. But from a long term perspective, I just take a much more relaxed attitude towards what should be a work day and what should be a day off. Sometimes, I have weeks where I'm in the office 3 days in a row. Other times, like when conditions are right for bouldering in the forest, I go entire months without doing much more than answering the odd customer email. I still have the two main SaaS products that replaced my day job salary ticking away in the background, but they're feature complete and have long been automated to the point where they don't take up any time to keep running. I can dev out new features when the mood strikes, but nothing is ever all that pressing. Mostly it's all about finding the things that are important and making them a priority. It's basically just the lifestyle of most retired folks, happening 25 years earlier.
- ademup 9y agoFix. Health. Care.
- fairpx 9y agoI’d keep building and tinkering on projects. Probably with less worries about monetizing
- drakonka 9y agoI would run either a cat or farm animal rescue shelter full time and work on my snail simulation in my spare time.