4 ms·

I take the question seriously but the answer that came to mind was- have kids with a partner. Caring for and supporting them- and a partner- will in the near te

I take the question seriously but the answer that came to mind was- have kids with a partner. Caring for and supporting them- and a partner- will in the near term put to concrete use the spare cycles your brain is devoting to these abstractions, and in the long term they will ask of you these abstract questions and you will by then have arrived at answers to help them. Ok. More specifically- some other poster suggested recording assumptions around these questions, and I will go further. Behind every complex large scale optimization question- what is the best way to X...- when X is fundamentally about humans- are a set of assumptions- here, around the definition of "best." Rather than chew on the question as framed, perhaps work to understand the assumptions your own brain is baking into the question in whatever value is being optimized. Understand further those assumptions as choices in a landscape and identify other choices that did not originally arise in the framing. With an understanding of the larger variety of choices that were originally hidden, visit in conversation with your fellow humans and ask of them how they see that landscape and set of choices. This discovery process through engagement may yield more insight than the self-centered utilization of your brain's optimization machinery. This process makes yourself available for teaching moments that are usually more impactful both for teacher and learner than any specific optimization insight and may help in further writing/sharing those moments. Best wishes.

Hnrobert42 6y ago
I don’t have kids, but I do have a partner. Nonetheless, such large questions no longer consume my spare cycles. Obviously there are many exceptions, I wonder if on average interest in such questions peaks. If so, does the average peak coincide with an age or a period of life. Do we lose interest in our late 20s/early 30s, on average, because that’s when we have kids or is that just how long it takes for people to get bored with contemplative pondering? I sort of hope it’s that having kids, a partner, a more challenging career soaks up the extra cycles. But even without those things, I find my passion ebbing. I worry this is an inevitable part of aging.

Hnrobert42 6y ago

I don’t have kids, but I do have a partner. Nonetheless, such large questions no longer consume my spare cycles. Obviously there are many exceptions, I wonder if on average interest in such questions peaks. If so, does the average peak coincide with an age or a period of life. Do we lose interest in our late 20s/early 30s, on average, because that’s when we have kids or is that just how long it takes for people to get bored with contemplative pondering? I sort of hope it’s that having kids, a partner, a more challenging career soaks up the extra cycles. But even without those things, I find my passion ebbing. I worry this is an inevitable part of aging.