5 ms·

> in 6 months you'll be 6 months closer than you were Not to be morbid, but…in 6 months you’ll also have 6 months less of your life left to do those things. I

> in 6 months you'll be 6 months closer than you were Not to be morbid, but…in 6 months you’ll also have 6 months less of your life left to do those things. In the past few years, I have felt—-whether due to my aging, the chaos of current events, the mindless march of technology, who knows—-that our time here on earth is a gift that we squander at our peril. I think some would find that bleak and grim, but I consider it an existentialist battle cry. Make a list of those things that someday you’d like to say you’ve done, or know, or have built, or have given to others…and do one of them.

teaearlgraycold 2y ago
Don’t stress your inevitable death. But also don’t live like you’re immortal.
learningstud 2y ago
Your revelations echo with that of Seneca, "On the Shortness of Life". You take your life seriously which is an act that I immensely respect.
- lacedeconstruct 2y ago
  Why should it matter anyway if its short or long when it will abruptly end as if it never existed
  - simonh 2y ago
    Why shouldn’t it? I think we get to choose what matters.
danparsonson 2y ago
> ...that our time here on earth is a gift that we squander at our peril. Yes but - it's up to each individual to decide on their own definition of 'squandering'. Ultimately everything we do is in service of our own search for meaning in life, and learning for its own sake can absolutely fulfil that role.
thowawatp302 2y ago
> Not to be morbid, but…in 6 months you’ll also have 6 months less of your life left to do those things. The time passes anyway.
- troad 2y ago
  > The time passes anyway. All the more reason to spend it on things that matter to you. The opportunity cost of six months spent deep in abstract CS papers is six months not spent teaching your daughter to play guitar, visiting that place you always dreamt of seeing, finally finishing that book on your nightstand, etc.
  - jpc0 2y ago
    These things are not mutually exclusive...
    - troad 2y ago
      Oh, but they are. We get fewer of those six month periods than we like to think we will.
      - Falimonda 2y ago
        Not if you teach your daughter quantum computing instead of guitar
        aeonik 2y ago
        You can definitely teach your daughter both.
        dayjah 2y ago
        At the same time, in different multiverses..
    - backlogman 2y ago
anon291 2y ago
Learning for the sake of learning is a good thing
- weatherlite 2y ago
  Why? There has to be some pleasure or goal derived from it. I don't think I'd particularly enjoy learning to speak Swahili just because I'm learning.
  - n4r9 2y ago
    For me, "aha" moments often make me feel like I've come closer to understanding myself and the universe. I suppose it's a kind of pleasure, but it's not directly a practical goal. It can definitely happen with learning a new language, because the language may encode and communicate information in ways I've never thought about before.
    - weatherlite 2y ago
      Got it. I guess we're very different then, I don't feel like I'm getting any closer to "understanding myself and the universe" nor is it a goal for me. Perhaps it was when I was younger.
      - n4r9 2y ago
        Yeah, we are probably different. I suppose my primary goal is to love and be kind. But trying to figure out what the hell is going on is a strong second place.
        weatherlite 2y ago
        > But trying to figure out what the hell is going on is a strong second place Not an easy goal, good luck!
  - brailsafe 2y ago
    I think there's some nuance between your view and their's, but I do find these perspectives to often divide people. If you're learning an arbitrary language for literally no reason at all—you don't know anyone who speaks it or have any intention of ever speaking it to someone—then that activity might struggle to compete with other things you might have a more coherent reason to do. The people I know who are more driven by tangible results, money, and outcomes, struggle to value things that have no previously established obvious purpose. I'd use the example of hiking literally all day without the promise of a good viewpoint; I'd invite the person out, with only a plausible estimate of the time required, and they'd want to just find something that takes less time so they can schedule something afterward. Along the way, they'll be rushing to meet that time, because this is just exercise or whatever to them, and in some way they aren't at peace the idea that we're both just here in the forest maybe chatting maybe not, there's no tangible justification for the mission. Another type of person would replace tangible outcomes with the feeling that they always need to be learning, regardless of what it is, because it's intrinsically virtuous, and they also sometimes fail to be at peace with doing something for no reason, or nothing at all. I've wavered between these over the years, and now I'll learn something because it's a clear weak spot, or I can imagine how it might be interesting, and if I don't have anything else that's more compelling (including doing nothing) I might give it a go. What's different now than a few years ago is how much I respect serious time involvement. Anything I decide is worth trying to learn is something I need to feel capable of dedicating serious energy to, at least in the first year; if I can't or don't want to, then maybe I won't, and I shouldn't fool myself into thinking I should or will, because I have other things going on. If I'm going hiking, that's my day, that's it, that's the whole activity, if anyone wants to join me then that's great, they need to accept the same mentality or they can stay home. If we happen to get back before the bars close, then that's great too. I might find Swahili interesting too, and if it seemed worth trying, I'd dive in on the basis that I'd just get a sense for how a different language works, and that there might be something surprising along the way, which to me is inherently valuable.
brailsafe 2y ago
I absolutely agree, which is why I try to constraint my social media use, and have long since stopped arbitrarily storing articles to read later in order to fake a personal sense of productivity. I still haven't bothered to learn anything to do with Crypto or AI, only because I don't feel like I have anything compelling enough to drive me to get anything satisfying out of it compared to like.. going outside or something. However, that's also exactly why I didn't say anything like "You should learn X", because it's just a curiosity, and there's many curiosities. For example, last year I failed an interview at Apple because they got the impression my hardware-level knowledge of computers wasn't there, and it wasn't, and that convinced me to finally try and work my way through NAND2Tetris, which I'm now about 3/4's of the way through, and feel was incredibly rewarding even though the net benefit is likely nebulous. I was out of work then for about a year and a half, and it helped me pass the time well too, in a much more spirit lifting way than grinding through yet another rest api project or frontend framework. Eventually a project may come along that I'll feel is compelling enough to dedicate some serious time to AI/Crypto, and I'll consider it then, but if I were to just try and learn it for no reason at all—including innate curiosity—I don't think it'd stick.
srfwx 2y ago
Reminds me of this song: https://youtu.be/9X_o_BAUJ-c https://youtu.be/9X_o_BAUJ-c

teaearlgraycold 2y ago

Don’t stress your inevitable death. But also don’t live like you’re immortal.

learningstud 2y ago

Your revelations echo with that of Seneca, "On the Shortness of Life". You take your life seriously which is an act that I immensely respect.

lacedeconstruct 2y ago
Why should it matter anyway if its short or long when it will abruptly end as if it never existed
- simonh 2y ago
  Why shouldn’t it? I think we get to choose what matters.

danparsonson 2y ago

> ...that our time here on earth is a gift that we squander at our peril. Yes but - it's up to each individual to decide on their own definition of 'squandering'. Ultimately everything we do is in service of our own search for meaning in life, and learning for its own sake can absolutely fulfil that role.

thowawatp302 2y ago

> Not to be morbid, but…in 6 months you’ll also have 6 months less of your life left to do those things. The time passes anyway.

troad 2y ago
> The time passes anyway. All the more reason to spend it on things that matter to you. The opportunity cost of six months spent deep in abstract CS papers is six months not spent teaching your daughter to play guitar, visiting that place you always dreamt of seeing, finally finishing that book on your nightstand, etc.
- jpc0 2y ago
  These things are not mutually exclusive...
  - troad 2y ago
    Oh, but they are. We get fewer of those six month periods than we like to think we will.
    - Falimonda 2y ago
      Not if you teach your daughter quantum computing instead of guitar
      - aeonik 2y ago
        You can definitely teach your daughter both.
        dayjah 2y ago
        At the same time, in different multiverses..
  - backlogman 2y ago

anon291 2y ago

Learning for the sake of learning is a good thing

weatherlite 2y ago
Why? There has to be some pleasure or goal derived from it. I don't think I'd particularly enjoy learning to speak Swahili just because I'm learning.
- n4r9 2y ago
  For me, "aha" moments often make me feel like I've come closer to understanding myself and the universe. I suppose it's a kind of pleasure, but it's not directly a practical goal. It can definitely happen with learning a new language, because the language may encode and communicate information in ways I've never thought about before.
  - weatherlite 2y ago
    Got it. I guess we're very different then, I don't feel like I'm getting any closer to "understanding myself and the universe" nor is it a goal for me. Perhaps it was when I was younger.
    - n4r9 2y ago
      Yeah, we are probably different. I suppose my primary goal is to love and be kind. But trying to figure out what the hell is going on is a strong second place.
      - weatherlite 2y ago
        > But trying to figure out what the hell is going on is a strong second place Not an easy goal, good luck!
- brailsafe 2y ago
  I think there's some nuance between your view and their's, but I do find these perspectives to often divide people. If you're learning an arbitrary language for literally no reason at all—you don't know anyone who speaks it or have any intention of ever speaking it to someone—then that activity might struggle to compete with other things you might have a more coherent reason to do. The people I know who are more driven by tangible results, money, and outcomes, struggle to value things that have no previously established obvious purpose. I'd use the example of hiking literally all day without the promise of a good viewpoint; I'd invite the person out, with only a plausible estimate of the time required, and they'd want to just find something that takes less time so they can schedule something afterward. Along the way, they'll be rushing to meet that time, because this is just exercise or whatever to them, and in some way they aren't at peace the idea that we're both just here in the forest maybe chatting maybe not, there's no tangible justification for the mission. Another type of person would replace tangible outcomes with the feeling that they always need to be learning, regardless of what it is, because it's intrinsically virtuous, and they also sometimes fail to be at peace with doing something for no reason, or nothing at all. I've wavered between these over the years, and now I'll learn something because it's a clear weak spot, or I can imagine how it might be interesting, and if I don't have anything else that's more compelling (including doing nothing) I might give it a go. What's different now than a few years ago is how much I respect serious time involvement. Anything I decide is worth trying to learn is something I need to feel capable of dedicating serious energy to, at least in the first year; if I can't or don't want to, then maybe I won't, and I shouldn't fool myself into thinking I should or will, because I have other things going on. If I'm going hiking, that's my day, that's it, that's the whole activity, if anyone wants to join me then that's great, they need to accept the same mentality or they can stay home. If we happen to get back before the bars close, then that's great too. I might find Swahili interesting too, and if it seemed worth trying, I'd dive in on the basis that I'd just get a sense for how a different language works, and that there might be something surprising along the way, which to me is inherently valuable.

brailsafe 2y ago

I absolutely agree, which is why I try to constraint my social media use, and have long since stopped arbitrarily storing articles to read later in order to fake a personal sense of productivity. I still haven't bothered to learn anything to do with Crypto or AI, only because I don't feel like I have anything compelling enough to drive me to get anything satisfying out of it compared to like.. going outside or something. However, that's also exactly why I didn't say anything like "You should learn X", because it's just a curiosity, and there's many curiosities. For example, last year I failed an interview at Apple because they got the impression my hardware-level knowledge of computers wasn't there, and it wasn't, and that convinced me to finally try and work my way through NAND2Tetris, which I'm now about 3/4's of the way through, and feel was incredibly rewarding even though the net benefit is likely nebulous. I was out of work then for about a year and a half, and it helped me pass the time well too, in a much more spirit lifting way than grinding through yet another rest api project or frontend framework. Eventually a project may come along that I'll feel is compelling enough to dedicate some serious time to AI/Crypto, and I'll consider it then, but if I were to just try and learn it for no reason at all—including innate curiosity—I don't think it'd stick.

srfwx 2y ago

Reminds me of this song: https://youtu.be/9X_o_BAUJ-c https://youtu.be/9X_o_BAUJ-c