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Given money enough, and time, I definitely have things I would work on (mostly developing numerical algorithms for solving physical modeling problems, and expre

Given money enough, and time, I definitely have things I would work on (mostly developing numerical algorithms for solving physical modeling problems, and expressing them in software). Yet, paradoxically, I worry about being given unconditional money and time to work on them. Occasionally my wife and I talk about my quitting work, and us moving to Thailand (her native country). Her vision of my ideal life there is that I wouldn't have to work, and could sit around doing my pet projects without any time or money constraints. That always strikes me as dangerous. Those projects I want to work on didn't jump into my head unbidden. The ideas arose from years of coming to grips with real-world problems that don't have entirely satisfactory solutions. If I untether myself from the work that led to the ideas I want to pursue, then where will the next ideas come from? And how will I know whether they are worth pursuing? To me, having side projects that seem worth doing, especially from the point of being useful to others (Sivers' way of distinguishing what he means by "not just relaxing"), requires their being grounded in real-world projects. And one measure of the worth of real-world projects, like it or not, is that people are willing to pay to get them done.

bubbleRefuge 13y ago
Occasionally my wife and I talk about my quitting work, and us moving to Thailand (her native country). Her vision of my ideal life there is that I wouldn't have to work, and could sit around doing my pet projects without any time or money constraints. I can sympathize. My wife and I have ties to South America. Food and shelter are way way cheaper down there. The voices in my head make compelling arguments for making the move. What stops me is the kids. Don't see much of a future for them in South America vs growing up in SV.
- davidw 13y ago
  Don't know much of anything detailed about "South America", which is a fairly big place, but a bit of time there beyond a vacation would probably do wonders for the kids in any case. My kids, wife and I live in Italy now, but I hope in the future that we'll get to live a bit in the US (where I'm from) so that they get to experience that, too.
- rwallace 13y ago
  Really? I haven't been in either place, but everything I've heard about California says it's a great place if you're a single twenty-year-old geek but a dreadful place to grow up in; intuitively I would have thought moving to South America would be ideal for the kids if they have US citizenship and therefore the right to move back to Silicon Valley later, if and when they are in the situation of being single twenty-year-old geeks?
  - bubbleRefuge 13y ago
    Kids are gr8 I think: attending good public schools with favorable demographics and good influences, lots of extracurricular activities in the community, tons of outdoorsy excursions such as hiking, camping, nature. Great museums and exposure to diverse culture. Skiing in winter. Problem is cost of living. Reasonable sized housing for a family of 4 and a dog IMO is 3/2 1800 sqft with yard and garage on 5000sqft lot. Thats hitting 1.5M+ in my hood right now. So buying is out of the question. Right now I'm renting a 3/2 condo for 3650, so, as a lifetime renter, over next 10 years were are talking about 500-600K in rent alone if you factor in increases. How does one save for retirement? college for kids? Problem with most of south america is infrastructure and security. These are things that here in the states we take for granted.
    - Daishiman 13y ago
      South America is a huge fucking continent. There are places in the Andes in Chile and Argentina that have standards of living comparable to 1st-world countries and a quality of outdoor activities that go beyond what you could get in the best Alpine towns of Switzerland, with free, high-quality public education and good universities nearby. They're obviously not the cheapest places to be in, but they easily cost 1/3 or less of what living in California does.
theorique 13y ago
Those projects I want to work on didn't jump into my head unbidden. The ideas arose from years of coming to grips with real-world problems that don't have entirely satisfactory solutions. If I untether myself from the work that led to the ideas I want to pursue, then where will the next ideas come from? And how will I know whether they are worth pursuing? Excellent insight. One of the issues with the retired leisure lifestyle is that your scope narrows and you don't have very many interesting problems to work on. ("steak or lobster?", "Gstaad or Monaco?")
- ahomescu1 13y ago
  > Excellent insight. One of the issues with the retired leisure lifestyle is that your scope narrows and you don't have very many interesting problems to work on. ("steak or lobster?", "Gstaad or Monaco?") That's really up to you. No one is stopping rich people from going into scientific research or philanthropy (for an example, look at Bill Gates).
  - theorique 13y ago
    What I mean is that a lifestyle of constant luxury and leisure provides no problems, no resistance. Whereas taking on actual challenges - as BG has done - provides things against which to struggle, and stimulates creativity. You're right that it's a conscious choice. Choosing the "easy way" means that you aren't likely to be as creative and productive as if you take on complex challenges.
dllthomas 13y ago
"If I untether myself from the work that led to the ideas I want to pursue, then where will the next ideas come from? And how will I know whether they are worth pursuing?" Can't you always dive back into industry when you're past your current crop of ideas?
- dmlorenzetti 13y ago
  Good question. In my case, probably not, but it might work for others (I do fairly specialized research; if I drop it, either somebody else will pick it up right away, or it will die altogether). More likely for me, I think, is that I would develop interest in some other problem area, and just dig in to the new domain. For example, I'm always struck when I hear about the sorts of medical problems that hit people from my wife's village. I don't know anything about medicine, but it feels to me like a focused data collection project could lead to a significant improvement health outcomes.
  - ska 13y ago
    I think this is extremely likely for you. It may be partially due to my training as a researcher keeping my eyes open to it, but it is a pretty rare month that goes by where I don't run into an interesting problem I could easily spend a year or two working productively on. Many of them don't come out of my current work or even during my work time. The idea of running out of "good ideas" is unfathomable to me, honestly. Running out of time is very easy to imagine, though.

bubbleRefuge 13y ago

Occasionally my wife and I talk about my quitting work, and us moving to Thailand (her native country). Her vision of my ideal life there is that I wouldn't have to work, and could sit around doing my pet projects without any time or money constraints. I can sympathize. My wife and I have ties to South America. Food and shelter are way way cheaper down there. The voices in my head make compelling arguments for making the move. What stops me is the kids. Don't see much of a future for them in South America vs growing up in SV.

davidw 13y ago
Don't know much of anything detailed about "South America", which is a fairly big place, but a bit of time there beyond a vacation would probably do wonders for the kids in any case. My kids, wife and I live in Italy now, but I hope in the future that we'll get to live a bit in the US (where I'm from) so that they get to experience that, too.
rwallace 13y ago
Really? I haven't been in either place, but everything I've heard about California says it's a great place if you're a single twenty-year-old geek but a dreadful place to grow up in; intuitively I would have thought moving to South America would be ideal for the kids if they have US citizenship and therefore the right to move back to Silicon Valley later, if and when they are in the situation of being single twenty-year-old geeks?
- bubbleRefuge 13y ago
  Kids are gr8 I think: attending good public schools with favorable demographics and good influences, lots of extracurricular activities in the community, tons of outdoorsy excursions such as hiking, camping, nature. Great museums and exposure to diverse culture. Skiing in winter. Problem is cost of living. Reasonable sized housing for a family of 4 and a dog IMO is 3/2 1800 sqft with yard and garage on 5000sqft lot. Thats hitting 1.5M+ in my hood right now. So buying is out of the question. Right now I'm renting a 3/2 condo for 3650, so, as a lifetime renter, over next 10 years were are talking about 500-600K in rent alone if you factor in increases. How does one save for retirement? college for kids? Problem with most of south america is infrastructure and security. These are things that here in the states we take for granted.
  - Daishiman 13y ago
    South America is a huge fucking continent. There are places in the Andes in Chile and Argentina that have standards of living comparable to 1st-world countries and a quality of outdoor activities that go beyond what you could get in the best Alpine towns of Switzerland, with free, high-quality public education and good universities nearby. They're obviously not the cheapest places to be in, but they easily cost 1/3 or less of what living in California does.

theorique 13y ago

Those projects I want to work on didn't jump into my head unbidden. The ideas arose from years of coming to grips with real-world problems that don't have entirely satisfactory solutions. If I untether myself from the work that led to the ideas I want to pursue, then where will the next ideas come from? And how will I know whether they are worth pursuing? Excellent insight. One of the issues with the retired leisure lifestyle is that your scope narrows and you don't have very many interesting problems to work on. ("steak or lobster?", "Gstaad or Monaco?")

ahomescu1 13y ago
> Excellent insight. One of the issues with the retired leisure lifestyle is that your scope narrows and you don't have very many interesting problems to work on. ("steak or lobster?", "Gstaad or Monaco?") That's really up to you. No one is stopping rich people from going into scientific research or philanthropy (for an example, look at Bill Gates).
- theorique 13y ago
  What I mean is that a lifestyle of constant luxury and leisure provides no problems, no resistance. Whereas taking on actual challenges - as BG has done - provides things against which to struggle, and stimulates creativity. You're right that it's a conscious choice. Choosing the "easy way" means that you aren't likely to be as creative and productive as if you take on complex challenges.

dllthomas 13y ago

"If I untether myself from the work that led to the ideas I want to pursue, then where will the next ideas come from? And how will I know whether they are worth pursuing?" Can't you always dive back into industry when you're past your current crop of ideas?

dmlorenzetti 13y ago
Good question. In my case, probably not, but it might work for others (I do fairly specialized research; if I drop it, either somebody else will pick it up right away, or it will die altogether). More likely for me, I think, is that I would develop interest in some other problem area, and just dig in to the new domain. For example, I'm always struck when I hear about the sorts of medical problems that hit people from my wife's village. I don't know anything about medicine, but it feels to me like a focused data collection project could lead to a significant improvement health outcomes.
- ska 13y ago
  I think this is extremely likely for you. It may be partially due to my training as a researcher keeping my eyes open to it, but it is a pretty rare month that goes by where I don't run into an interesting problem I could easily spend a year or two working productively on. Many of them don't come out of my current work or even during my work time. The idea of running out of "good ideas" is unfathomable to me, honestly. Running out of time is very easy to imagine, though.