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Interesting post, definitely learned some new things, but also came away from the article feeling slightly violated with what was by the end clearly again just

Interesting post, definitely learned some new things, but also came away from the article feeling slightly violated with what was by the end clearly again just self promotion. On brand for Tim too I suppose. The irony is that he doesn't discuss that he could stop all of this, within a relatively instant moment. Just stop being famous. Stop posting on social media, bring down your podcast and blog and just go live a normal life doing a regular job. Some celebrities can't just quit but at Tims level he surely can. But he won't, he won't even discuss that possibility here because clearly all of these drawbacks are nothing compared to the two things fame does bring which is dopamine and money. It's also interesting he doesn't openly mention that he's also rich as hell now, and notwithstanding all the supposedly charitable work he's doing benefits greatly from his money. Like dude are you dedicating your life to help others or just to get another dopamine hit from it while still spending obscene amounts on yourself? I was thinking of taking a vacation and couldn't bring myself to book a ticket to Europe because it felt wasteful to spend so much money and carbon just for sight seeing. I question if people like Tim ever think that. I'm more interested in an introspection about that, instead of another conveniently timed piece on being famous just days after a charade by the kings of such charlatanism Harry.

iLoveOncall 3y ago
I think you're the kind of guy he is afraid of.
- ramraj07 3y ago
  So anyone with a dissenting opinion is now a creepy stalker now?
  - iLoveOncall 3y ago
    You don't have a dissenting opinion. You did not talk AT ALL about the post, your original comment is 100% hate about the person. Reread your post and go take a good look in the mirror, you need it.
cloogshicer 3y ago
Honest question, how would he do that? How would he stop being famous? It's not like you can delete all the references to your name and past actions from the web. As long as people know your name, and the fact that you're rich, most of the threats on his list remain.
- hutzlibu 3y ago
  People are quick to forget, so following parents advice of just stop posting openly will achieve that very quickly.
  - cloogshicer 3y ago
    People are quick to forget, but the internet is not. Even if he stops posting today, and deletes everything he has control over, he'd still be all over the net. Easy target for truly malicious people.
- _fizz_buzz_ 3y ago
  Tim Ferries is not George Clooney. If he actively avoided the lime light. He would probably only very occasionally be recognized in public within a couple of years. Celebrity culture moves on fast.
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    Tim who? I'd never even heard of him until today.
- ramraj07 3y ago
  All almost anyone needs to do to stop being famous is just stop putting themselves out there. In media traditional or social. In appearances. In the news. They're not royalty or Gandhi to be remembered in perpetuity even without trying. I doubt even those people would be remembered if they didn't try so hard.
mr90210 3y ago
You have valid points. To be fair to Tim, he’s quit so many things that use to make him famous and even left California to Austin, Texas in 2015 when that was unheard-of. As for you my friend, go book that vacation for yourself, life is rather short. Best regards.
- BiteCode_dev 3y ago
  Seems like a lot of people from the Podcast scene are moving to Austin. Is that a trend? Why is that?
  - effingwewt 3y ago
    Cool places in California have all been gentrified to the point they lost what made them special- the people and places and events. So now they have all decided to move to Austin to do the same there. We used to say 'keep austin weird', but last I was there (and this was back in 2018 or so) I was working on the new high-rises downtown. Prices at local hotspots were insane, scooters running pedestrians off the sidewalks, 6th street on weekends was just a different kind of crowd (techbros). Rent was through the roof (the high rise we worked on had a rooftop pool, rooftop parking, etc) but place was already booked full. Back then the number of California plates was huge and growing daily, as did the number of homeless and displaced. I knew a crew who moved to San Antonio and surrounding areas, hours away, because with increased commute and gas prices it was still cheaper than renting anywhere in Austin. It literally is starting to look like San Francisco, where you have all these luxury condos/apts downtown and they are surrounded by homeless people everywhere.
- ramraj07 3y ago
  Thanks, I think I have decided I won't travel across the world for purely leisure purposes except maybe for a honeymoon. I'll definitely check out the most fun european countries at some point in my life, but i figure I'll get the right work related opportunity some time or other to do so for each. It makes those visits all the more poignant and memorable to me anyway.
gizmo 3y ago
Going on vacation to Europe is a totally reasonable thing to do. Don’t let people guilt you into believing it’s an outrageously selfish act that contributes to the destruction of our planet. Millions of people listen to Tim Ferriss’ podcast because they enjoy it, or think they can learn from it. At that scale you necessarily attract some crazy people, just like pop stars and politicians do. Your suggestion that he could just abandon his life’s work is bad and judgmental.
- voisin 3y ago
  > Going on vacation to Europe is a totally reasonable thing to do. Don’t let people guilt you into believing it’s an outrageously selfish act that contributes to the destruction of our planet. Reasonable by what standard? How is it not outrageously selfish to add extra carbon to the atmosphere which absolutely does “contribute to the destruction of the planet”. Do you honestly think there are zero consequences to burning further fossil fuels?
  - iLoveOncall 3y ago
    This is a ridiculous and hypocritical statement. Posting on HN generates extra carbon, eating out generates extra carbon, everything generates extra, unnecessary, carbon.
    - voisin 3y ago
      You would agree that there are different quantities of carbon for each of the things you listed and air travel, right? Like, you recognize that it isn’t binary generate/not generate?
  - andersa 3y ago
    It makes no sense to worry about this as an individual while entire countries are failing to act, making the problem worse by refusing to use clean nuclear power and building new coal power plants instead. Or you could see some corporation wasting a million times more carbon than you produce every day because they save a few dollars over a more responsible process. Whether you take that flight or not has no impact on the world at all. While you worried about this guy going on a vacation, Germany approved dismantling a wind turbine farm to make space for a new coal mine :)
cheekibreeki2 3y ago
You're gonna need to increase your carbon social credit score for that bud, it's what the state demands. /s.
ihateyouall123 3y ago
[dead]
voisin 3y ago
> couldn't bring myself to book a ticket to Europe because it felt wasteful to spend so much money and carbon just for sight seeing. Regarding the carbon, thank you. I cannot fathom why so many people still act as if there are no costs beyond the dollar value and consequently don’t feel any guilt whatsoever about the externalities stemming from unnecessary flights.
- maxdoop 3y ago
  How do you honestly function in day-to-day life with such a mindset? Should I forgo my modern living entirely because of my carbon footprint? Where do you draw the line?
  - voisin 3y ago
    One of the filters in my decision making is what the impact is on climate change and then I have to assess whether it is subjectively “worth it” given that impact. I haven’t found that it causes me to forgo modern living. As another commenter pointed out, international flight is reserved for a very small portion of the population. I’ve installed solar panels, electrified my home to avoid natural gas, I generally don’t eat meat or other animal products (perhaps the largest single act of low carbon lifestyle), and drive fewer than 7k km per year. I don’t feel deprived at all. What’s shocking to me is that with the forest fires and smoke filled air, more people aren’t doing the same thing, but I guess that’s the tragedy of the commons.
- iLoveOncall 3y ago
  Air travel is 2% of global emissions. It's a drop in the bucket.
  - BiteCode_dev 3y ago
    2% is huge at that scale.
    - saalweachter 3y ago
jollofricepeas 3y ago
This is funny because I never heard of Tim Ferriss until today. Other than clicking on the link and reading the header, I’m still not sure who he is other than what appears to be a popular podcast host. Celebrity is so relative especially in todays society. In the early 90’s, there were literally three international celebrities. - Sports: Michael Jordan - Music: Michael Jackson - Movies: Arnold Swarzenegger…maybe? This Tim Ferriss has a following and is popular with some but he’s definitely not famous enough to warrant the post.
- lapcat 3y ago
  > This Tim Ferriss has a following and is popular with some but he’s definitely not famous enough to warrant the post. Yet he's famous enough to warrant a death threat once a month, which is the point. I'm not even sure what you mean by "warrant the post". Nobody has to justify writing a blog post.
bell-cot 3y ago
> The irony is that he doesn't discuss that he could stop all of this... That is true of a huge number jobs and social roles. Are your job or boss or management sometimes really unpleasant? Quit. Having second thoughts about poopy diapers and sleepless nights? Lots of places have no-fault ways to give your baby up for adoption. Etc., etc., etc. More generally, your seeming resentment of Jim, his fame, and his lifestyle feel pretty orthogonal to the serious Health & Safety topic of his post.

iLoveOncall 3y ago

I think you're the kind of guy he is afraid of.

ramraj07 3y ago
So anyone with a dissenting opinion is now a creepy stalker now?
- iLoveOncall 3y ago
  You don't have a dissenting opinion. You did not talk AT ALL about the post, your original comment is 100% hate about the person. Reread your post and go take a good look in the mirror, you need it.

cloogshicer 3y ago

Honest question, how would he do that? How would he stop being famous? It's not like you can delete all the references to your name and past actions from the web. As long as people know your name, and the fact that you're rich, most of the threats on his list remain.

hutzlibu 3y ago
People are quick to forget, so following parents advice of just stop posting openly will achieve that very quickly.
- cloogshicer 3y ago
  People are quick to forget, but the internet is not. Even if he stops posting today, and deletes everything he has control over, he'd still be all over the net. Easy target for truly malicious people.
_fizz_buzz_ 3y ago
Tim Ferries is not George Clooney. If he actively avoided the lime light. He would probably only very occasionally be recognized in public within a couple of years. Celebrity culture moves on fast.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  Tim who? I'd never even heard of him until today.
ramraj07 3y ago
All almost anyone needs to do to stop being famous is just stop putting themselves out there. In media traditional or social. In appearances. In the news. They're not royalty or Gandhi to be remembered in perpetuity even without trying. I doubt even those people would be remembered if they didn't try so hard.

mr90210 3y ago

You have valid points. To be fair to Tim, he’s quit so many things that use to make him famous and even left California to Austin, Texas in 2015 when that was unheard-of. As for you my friend, go book that vacation for yourself, life is rather short. Best regards.

BiteCode_dev 3y ago
Seems like a lot of people from the Podcast scene are moving to Austin. Is that a trend? Why is that?
- effingwewt 3y ago
  Cool places in California have all been gentrified to the point they lost what made them special- the people and places and events. So now they have all decided to move to Austin to do the same there. We used to say 'keep austin weird', but last I was there (and this was back in 2018 or so) I was working on the new high-rises downtown. Prices at local hotspots were insane, scooters running pedestrians off the sidewalks, 6th street on weekends was just a different kind of crowd (techbros). Rent was through the roof (the high rise we worked on had a rooftop pool, rooftop parking, etc) but place was already booked full. Back then the number of California plates was huge and growing daily, as did the number of homeless and displaced. I knew a crew who moved to San Antonio and surrounding areas, hours away, because with increased commute and gas prices it was still cheaper than renting anywhere in Austin. It literally is starting to look like San Francisco, where you have all these luxury condos/apts downtown and they are surrounded by homeless people everywhere.
ramraj07 3y ago
Thanks, I think I have decided I won't travel across the world for purely leisure purposes except maybe for a honeymoon. I'll definitely check out the most fun european countries at some point in my life, but i figure I'll get the right work related opportunity some time or other to do so for each. It makes those visits all the more poignant and memorable to me anyway.

gizmo 3y ago

Going on vacation to Europe is a totally reasonable thing to do. Don’t let people guilt you into believing it’s an outrageously selfish act that contributes to the destruction of our planet. Millions of people listen to Tim Ferriss’ podcast because they enjoy it, or think they can learn from it. At that scale you necessarily attract some crazy people, just like pop stars and politicians do. Your suggestion that he could just abandon his life’s work is bad and judgmental.

voisin 3y ago
> Going on vacation to Europe is a totally reasonable thing to do. Don’t let people guilt you into believing it’s an outrageously selfish act that contributes to the destruction of our planet. Reasonable by what standard? How is it not outrageously selfish to add extra carbon to the atmosphere which absolutely does “contribute to the destruction of the planet”. Do you honestly think there are zero consequences to burning further fossil fuels?
- iLoveOncall 3y ago
  This is a ridiculous and hypocritical statement. Posting on HN generates extra carbon, eating out generates extra carbon, everything generates extra, unnecessary, carbon.
  - voisin 3y ago
    You would agree that there are different quantities of carbon for each of the things you listed and air travel, right? Like, you recognize that it isn’t binary generate/not generate?
- andersa 3y ago
  It makes no sense to worry about this as an individual while entire countries are failing to act, making the problem worse by refusing to use clean nuclear power and building new coal power plants instead. Or you could see some corporation wasting a million times more carbon than you produce every day because they save a few dollars over a more responsible process. Whether you take that flight or not has no impact on the world at all. While you worried about this guy going on a vacation, Germany approved dismantling a wind turbine farm to make space for a new coal mine :)

cheekibreeki2 3y ago

You're gonna need to increase your carbon social credit score for that bud, it's what the state demands. /s.

ihateyouall123 3y ago

[dead]

voisin 3y ago

> couldn't bring myself to book a ticket to Europe because it felt wasteful to spend so much money and carbon just for sight seeing. Regarding the carbon, thank you. I cannot fathom why so many people still act as if there are no costs beyond the dollar value and consequently don’t feel any guilt whatsoever about the externalities stemming from unnecessary flights.

maxdoop 3y ago
How do you honestly function in day-to-day life with such a mindset? Should I forgo my modern living entirely because of my carbon footprint? Where do you draw the line?
- voisin 3y ago
  One of the filters in my decision making is what the impact is on climate change and then I have to assess whether it is subjectively “worth it” given that impact. I haven’t found that it causes me to forgo modern living. As another commenter pointed out, international flight is reserved for a very small portion of the population. I’ve installed solar panels, electrified my home to avoid natural gas, I generally don’t eat meat or other animal products (perhaps the largest single act of low carbon lifestyle), and drive fewer than 7k km per year. I don’t feel deprived at all. What’s shocking to me is that with the forest fires and smoke filled air, more people aren’t doing the same thing, but I guess that’s the tragedy of the commons.
iLoveOncall 3y ago
Air travel is 2% of global emissions. It's a drop in the bucket.
- BiteCode_dev 3y ago
  2% is huge at that scale.
  - saalweachter 3y ago

jollofricepeas 3y ago

This is funny because I never heard of Tim Ferriss until today. Other than clicking on the link and reading the header, I’m still not sure who he is other than what appears to be a popular podcast host. Celebrity is so relative especially in todays society. In the early 90’s, there were literally three international celebrities. - Sports: Michael Jordan - Music: Michael Jackson - Movies: Arnold Swarzenegger…maybe? This Tim Ferriss has a following and is popular with some but he’s definitely not famous enough to warrant the post.

lapcat 3y ago
> This Tim Ferriss has a following and is popular with some but he’s definitely not famous enough to warrant the post. Yet he's famous enough to warrant a death threat once a month, which is the point. I'm not even sure what you mean by "warrant the post". Nobody has to justify writing a blog post.

bell-cot 3y ago

> The irony is that he doesn't discuss that he could stop all of this... That is true of a huge number jobs and social roles. Are your job or boss or management sometimes really unpleasant? Quit. Having second thoughts about poopy diapers and sleepless nights? Lots of places have no-fault ways to give your baby up for adoption. Etc., etc., etc. More generally, your seeming resentment of Jim, his fame, and his lifestyle feel pretty orthogonal to the serious Health & Safety topic of his post.