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I liked Woody Allen's answer to the question why he was still working in his late seventies: You know in a mental institution they sometimes give a person some

by thebear 12y ago

I liked Woody Allen's answer to the question why he was still working in his late seventies: You know in a mental institution they sometimes give a person some clay or some basket weaving? It’s the therapy of moviemaking that has been good in my life. If you don’t work, it’s unhealthy—for me, particularly unhealthy. I could sit here suffering from morbid introspection, ruing my mortality, being anxious. But it’s very therapeutic to get up and think, Can I get this actor; does my third act work? All these solvable problems that are delightful puzzles, as opposed to the great puzzles of life that are unsolvable, or that have very bad solutions. So I get pleasure from doing this. It’s my version of basket weaving.

vacri 12y ago
A shorter version is "My work is engaging and fun, and I can choose my own pace". If Allen was in a physical trade, his body might no longer be up to it. If he was in menial work, retirement would be more engaging - few factory workers or street cleaners would consider their work 'basket weaving'.
- jzwinck 12y ago
  > few factory workers [...] would consider their work 'basket weaving'. I had the pleasure of working with a machinist named Bill who was probably 70 years old. He was an artist with tools twice as old as I was, sometimes five times that. After decades of experience there were no doubts about his products, no mistakes. He even included ergonomic touches not specified in the plans so that people using his products as tools downstream would have less chance of mistakes themselves. When asked about some of the other people working in the factory, mostly 20-somethings, he said, "They are strong, but they have no finesse." Bill was a 10x employee, and he wove the hell out of those baskets.
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    All I have to say is, watch this - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wrzo_fabrication-d-une-lampe-triode_tech http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wrzo_fabrication-d-une-la...
  - dugditches 12y ago
    I don't think a machinist falls into what your parent-post was getting at. I have found skill and 'puzzle solving'(using Allen's analogy) in menial or physical labour. But as stated, your body just can't take it. And you realize you're spending your off time tired, sore and wasted. A machinist is solving problems and puzzles. A street sweeper or machine man on an assembly line aren't.
    - hoprocker 12y ago
      Strongly agree. A blueprint is a Platonic puzzle -- Here, take this representation of an ideal and figure out some way of making it a physical reality.
kamaal 12y ago
>> If you don’t work, it’s unhealthy This isn't just true for old people or mental unhealthy but for everybody. Having no troubles in life can become the biggest trouble of your life. If you are involved in some work, you have some troubles, or busy solving some problems a great deal of smaller problems in life just come and go without you giving a bid deal about it. If you have nothing to do, you will pick faults every single thing, you may pick fights with family members on sorts of silly issues. And things really get ugly from there. And most importantly lets not forget working is one of the best ways to network with people, meet them, share your stories- this ensures a lot of your stress and anxiety gets a means to be vented out. Else alone, every things builds up in a pressure cookers and bursts real ugly some day.
- pgeorgi 12y ago
  Since that line of reason (which is a good one!) tends to be brought up when it comes to basic income, or "end of the age of scarcity" discussions, let me just add to this: None of this depends on the current social contract of money seeking work (employment, contractors, ...). It's perfectly possible to do meaningful work with meaningful social interactions when no money is changing hands and no threat of starvation is looming over people.
  - Florin_Andrei 12y ago
    Wait, isn't that self-evident?
    - infinite8s 12y ago
      Not to the ardent capitalist.
  - doorhammer 12y ago
    I had two months of severance recently, and most people I told about it said "man, I'd go crazy with nothing to do" but I pretty much didn't stop doing things the entire two months. I made progress on most of the books I was reading. I did a lot of coding. I read research papers. I ended up driving up the ohio river with a friend who was applying for jobs at the lock and dams. I never got bored and I always had something to do. It appears that some people just aren't very good at that. I don't exert some special force of will, so I can't really act superior. I just naturally want to read and learn about a lot of random stuff. I wonder if it's impulsive, driving curiosity that keeps some people active well into old age. I have plans to "retire" some day, but when I say "retire" I mostly mean "to stop being dependent on a specific income stream while I continue to do a lot of stuff"

by thebear 12y ago

vacri 12y ago

A shorter version is "My work is engaging and fun, and I can choose my own pace". If Allen was in a physical trade, his body might no longer be up to it. If he was in menial work, retirement would be more engaging - few factory workers or street cleaners would consider their work 'basket weaving'.

jzwinck 12y ago
> few factory workers [...] would consider their work 'basket weaving'. I had the pleasure of working with a machinist named Bill who was probably 70 years old. He was an artist with tools twice as old as I was, sometimes five times that. After decades of experience there were no doubts about his products, no mistakes. He even included ergonomic touches not specified in the plans so that people using his products as tools downstream would have less chance of mistakes themselves. When asked about some of the other people working in the factory, mostly 20-somethings, he said, "They are strong, but they have no finesse." Bill was a 10x employee, and he wove the hell out of those baskets.
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  All I have to say is, watch this - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wrzo_fabrication-d-une-lampe-triode_tech http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wrzo_fabrication-d-une-la...
- dugditches 12y ago
  I don't think a machinist falls into what your parent-post was getting at. I have found skill and 'puzzle solving'(using Allen's analogy) in menial or physical labour. But as stated, your body just can't take it. And you realize you're spending your off time tired, sore and wasted. A machinist is solving problems and puzzles. A street sweeper or machine man on an assembly line aren't.
  - hoprocker 12y ago
    Strongly agree. A blueprint is a Platonic puzzle -- Here, take this representation of an ideal and figure out some way of making it a physical reality.

kamaal 12y ago

>> If you don’t work, it’s unhealthy This isn't just true for old people or mental unhealthy but for everybody. Having no troubles in life can become the biggest trouble of your life. If you are involved in some work, you have some troubles, or busy solving some problems a great deal of smaller problems in life just come and go without you giving a bid deal about it. If you have nothing to do, you will pick faults every single thing, you may pick fights with family members on sorts of silly issues. And things really get ugly from there. And most importantly lets not forget working is one of the best ways to network with people, meet them, share your stories- this ensures a lot of your stress and anxiety gets a means to be vented out. Else alone, every things builds up in a pressure cookers and bursts real ugly some day.

pgeorgi 12y ago
Since that line of reason (which is a good one!) tends to be brought up when it comes to basic income, or "end of the age of scarcity" discussions, let me just add to this: None of this depends on the current social contract of money seeking work (employment, contractors, ...). It's perfectly possible to do meaningful work with meaningful social interactions when no money is changing hands and no threat of starvation is looming over people.
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago
  Wait, isn't that self-evident?
  - infinite8s 12y ago
    Not to the ardent capitalist.
- doorhammer 12y ago
  I had two months of severance recently, and most people I told about it said "man, I'd go crazy with nothing to do" but I pretty much didn't stop doing things the entire two months. I made progress on most of the books I was reading. I did a lot of coding. I read research papers. I ended up driving up the ohio river with a friend who was applying for jobs at the lock and dams. I never got bored and I always had something to do. It appears that some people just aren't very good at that. I don't exert some special force of will, so I can't really act superior. I just naturally want to read and learn about a lot of random stuff. I wonder if it's impulsive, driving curiosity that keeps some people active well into old age. I have plans to "retire" some day, but when I say "retire" I mostly mean "to stop being dependent on a specific income stream while I continue to do a lot of stuff"