5 ms·

Anyone who read that: How do you justify the life spend once you see the scroll bar turning that small? Like rolling a dice on wasting 30 minutes, but maybe ma

by brador 1y ago

Anyone who read that: How do you justify the life spend once you see the scroll bar turning that small? Like rolling a dice on wasting 30 minutes, but maybe maybe it’ll be interesting or mildly amusing, best case. There’s just no way that use of time could be worth the squeeze when your takehome is $500/hr. 8% of your waking day spent reading an article. Come on?

Dilettante_ 1y ago
Weird flex about the income, but the answer is: You don't have to read the whole thing. You can just dip in and if the first 2, 5, 10 minutes hook you, you read the rest. You could also skim, that's a practice that has really done a lot for me when it comes to not-so-information-dense literature that might still have worthwhile nuggets in it, like a good chunk of nonfiction.
qskousen 1y ago
Do you determine the worthiness of all your activities by how much money you could make in the time they took? I read the full article and found it well worth the time. A somewhat sobering essay, prompting some self-reflection, while also being beautifully written. I appreciated the art displayed. How can you put a price tag on something like that?
ricardobeat 1y ago
Books must be very expensive for you to read.
- floren 1y ago
  I don't think that's a problem for him.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
rini17 1y ago
After first page I guessed it's obvious where it goes and stopped reading. The discussion confirmed it. If it was not obvious to anyone, then they needed to read it all perhaps. Not having any big feelings for people who do or don't anymore, I have been avoiding all kinds of cat turds most of my life, not bad decision but it's very lonely.
- dmd 1y ago
  It actually doesn't go where you'd expect after the first page. The discussion confirms it because nearly everyone only read the first page, and mostly people are commenting on the article they think it is, rather than what it actually is.
  - rini17 1y ago
    You piqued my curiosity so read it all but did not surprise me. Wondering what do you see in it?
LandR 1y ago
I don't justify the time spent in my life on a $/hr basis. That's absurd. The point of my life isn't to maximise my $/hr return to some faceless corporation. I started reading it, I liked the writing style, it resonated with me. I kept reading till I had finished it. There, that's the entire justification, I need no more justification than that. Work lost 5-10 minutes of productivity so I could indulge in reading something ? Sure. That's fine. I'm sure they will survive. If not, then maybe they should just go out and hire a team of soulless robots.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
ash_091 1y ago
Come on, HN. Let's not pretend brador is reading our replies. Who could justify the time at $500/hr?
teraflop 1y ago
If the thing you value most in life is earning money, then anything that doesn't earn you money must feel like a huge sacrifice. That's a great mentality to have if you want to die with a high score.
ezekiel68 1y ago
> How do you justify... It's easy. I just remind myself that, in about 5 billion years, the Sun will have sufficiently run out of fuel to begin its transition to a Red Giant. At that point, all remnants of biologic life that ever lived on the crust of the earth will be incinerated and it won't have mattered whether anyone carefully conserved the precious time remaining in their lives or not. I have so thoroughly incorporated this understanding into my psyche that I can merely blink now and all of that context is immediately present to me.
boogieknite 1y ago
i recognize how each line is well crafted and engaging and it pulls me along the old adage for discarding a book is read 100 pages - your age if its good i keep reading. this was fantastic
rconti 1y ago
Because of all of the other pointless nonsense I do throughout the day. The interesting-sounding articles here I open, skim, and close. Or leave as an open tab to come back to because I "really should read it". And yet, this one captured me. The writing was engaging, and it left me hanging as I went along. I _enjoyed_ it. That's why. Maybe I should read more things I _enjoy_ and fewer things I "should" read.
nice_byte 1y ago
you understand the concept of skimming?
yownie 1y ago
if it's somewhere that someone like you wouldn't be, that's justification in of itself.

by brador 1y ago

Dilettante_ 1y ago

Weird flex about the income, but the answer is: You don't have to read the whole thing. You can just dip in and if the first 2, 5, 10 minutes hook you, you read the rest. You could also skim, that's a practice that has really done a lot for me when it comes to not-so-information-dense literature that might still have worthwhile nuggets in it, like a good chunk of nonfiction.

qskousen 1y ago

Do you determine the worthiness of all your activities by how much money you could make in the time they took? I read the full article and found it well worth the time. A somewhat sobering essay, prompting some self-reflection, while also being beautifully written. I appreciated the art displayed. How can you put a price tag on something like that?

ricardobeat 1y ago

Books must be very expensive for you to read.

floren 1y ago
I don't think that's a problem for him.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

rini17 1y ago

After first page I guessed it's obvious where it goes and stopped reading. The discussion confirmed it. If it was not obvious to anyone, then they needed to read it all perhaps. Not having any big feelings for people who do or don't anymore, I have been avoiding all kinds of cat turds most of my life, not bad decision but it's very lonely.

dmd 1y ago
It actually doesn't go where you'd expect after the first page. The discussion confirms it because nearly everyone only read the first page, and mostly people are commenting on the article they think it is, rather than what it actually is.
- rini17 1y ago
  You piqued my curiosity so read it all but did not surprise me. Wondering what do you see in it?

LandR 1y ago

I don't justify the time spent in my life on a $/hr basis. That's absurd. The point of my life isn't to maximise my $/hr return to some faceless corporation. I started reading it, I liked the writing style, it resonated with me. I kept reading till I had finished it. There, that's the entire justification, I need no more justification than that. Work lost 5-10 minutes of productivity so I could indulge in reading something ? Sure. That's fine. I'm sure they will survive. If not, then maybe they should just go out and hire a team of soulless robots.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

ash_091 1y ago

Come on, HN. Let's not pretend brador is reading our replies. Who could justify the time at $500/hr?

teraflop 1y ago

If the thing you value most in life is earning money, then anything that doesn't earn you money must feel like a huge sacrifice. That's a great mentality to have if you want to die with a high score.

ezekiel68 1y ago

> How do you justify... It's easy. I just remind myself that, in about 5 billion years, the Sun will have sufficiently run out of fuel to begin its transition to a Red Giant. At that point, all remnants of biologic life that ever lived on the crust of the earth will be incinerated and it won't have mattered whether anyone carefully conserved the precious time remaining in their lives or not. I have so thoroughly incorporated this understanding into my psyche that I can merely blink now and all of that context is immediately present to me.

boogieknite 1y ago

i recognize how each line is well crafted and engaging and it pulls me along the old adage for discarding a book is read 100 pages - your age if its good i keep reading. this was fantastic

rconti 1y ago

Because of all of the other pointless nonsense I do throughout the day. The interesting-sounding articles here I open, skim, and close. Or leave as an open tab to come back to because I "really should read it". And yet, this one captured me. The writing was engaging, and it left me hanging as I went along. I _enjoyed_ it. That's why. Maybe I should read more things I _enjoy_ and fewer things I "should" read.

nice_byte 1y ago

you understand the concept of skimming?

yownie 1y ago

if it's somewhere that someone like you wouldn't be, that's justification in of itself.