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>and productivity for the sake of productivity For some reason, the word "productive" causes some readers to get the wrong message. (I.e. some readers see a
by jasode 4y ago
>and productivity for the sake of productivity
For some reason, the word "productive" causes some readers to get the wrong message. (I.e. some readers see a blog text mentioning "productivity" and thus it must be some veiled guilt-shaming article.)
People don't try to be productive just for the sake of being productive. People want to improve their lives and productivity is a natural focus of optimization to bring about a quality-of-life improvement.
Your pushback is similar to previous commenters that rejected the idea of "productivity" and I replied in previous comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19592404 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19592404
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22255557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22255557
To recap one of my comments, even the prehistoric hunter "having enough to eat" is not fine because the hunter still wants to improve the productivity of hunting. Over the last 10000 years, people have continuously improved the productivity of hunting (and farming) so much that today's people like you and I have enough free time to type HN comments -- instead of spending all day chasing after animals to eat.
People naturally want to improve their lives. Some people also want to share ideas on how to improve their lives. It seems the word "productivity" has tainted that discussion.
However, it doesn't change the fact that people still want to reduce the ratio of effort-to-benefit.
- hutzlibu 4y agoI agree to your general point, but "instead of spending all day chasing after animals to eat." Actual working hours in small hunter gatherer tribes like the Lakota were more likely around 3-4 hours. Medieval peasants had to work all day long. But both experienced starving in winter and spring, in a bad year.
- DiggyJohnson 4y agoThose tribes have been optimizing their hunter-gatherer lifestyle for thousands of years. Like the rest of modernity, they have innovated (increased their productivity) on their practices and their culture and society has evolved. So I see this point as being evidence to GPs perspective, rather than your own, respectfully.
- allendoerfer 4y agoIf you are procrastinating you are probably fine and will not starve. You do not have to hustle. Of course you can, but if it‘s not your thing, just don’t do it. Most of us are not hunter/gatherers.
- 8note 4y agoThat's divorced from whether that optimization actually increases QoL vs not doing it. Doing something that makes you unhappy even more because you do it more efficiently doesn't make you happier, only more efficient