4 ms·

It seems like there is a tendency to become occupied with obligations as you age, regardless of exactly how the discretionary time / money is eaten up.

• davidw 3y ago
  Oh, absolutely, but housing eats up the biggest share of most peoples' paychecks. The higher those costs are, the fewer people can afford to just go do something adventurous, new and interesting. I mean, think about the staggering amounts of VC money in the bay area that pretty much flows straight to landlords.
  • shuckles 3y ago
    I am all for reducing rent seeking, including in this case literally. However, my point is that the hippies became squares in the same way the hackers became squares. It's not clear that housing costs are causal; they might just be incidental.
    • davidw 3y ago
      I think it's one of those things where you'd want to look at it statistically, or 'at the margin'. Many - most - people will grow up and settle down some. But high housing costs kind of force the issue even more, and leave less room for people to have some more freedom to explore.
      • shuckles 3y ago
        If we are thinking about this as a dynamic system, then: many people who moved to the valley before 2010 got some sort of windfall, whether through home equity or participating in a notable period of wealth creation. Why didn’t that mint a bunch of hackers on the margin, if disposable income is so explanatory?