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>That's not how life always works, though. Why? What makes life that? Nature? A social construct? I'm willing to bet is the second thing, and I don't believe

>That's not how life always works, though. Why? What makes life that? Nature? A social construct? I'm willing to bet is the second thing, and I don't believe questioning such things is bad.

zzalpha 12y ago
No, it's just... life. If I did only the things I wanted to do in any given moment, I pretty well guarantee you our lawn would never be mowed, the dishes would go undone, dinner would frequently not get made, etc. Not to be too snarky, but... that you're questioning that makes me wonder if you've ever actually had to run your own household, or work in a real-life job, or generally operate as an adult, which is practically defined as finding that balance between doing what you want and doing what is needed.
- dethstar 12y ago
  I'm not saying it's right or wrong to do or not what you want. I'm saying that questioning such thing is okay. There's no physics or natural law that dictates it has to be this way. This is the life we have built. Nothing to do with my personal experience running a household, work or ability to operate as an adult. But questioning stuff is just part of critical thinking.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - ForHackernews 12y ago
    > There's no physics or natural law that dictates it has to be this way. Yes there is: At a very basic level, humans need to eat food to live. If nobody wanted to do the work necessary to procure food, everyone would starve. Maybe at some point in the near-ish future we will have automated away all unpleasant-but-necessary tasks, but that day is not today, and when it does arrive, it will be a new development for our species. Until then, being a responsible adult will involve at least some modicum of doing-things-that-one-doesn't-want-to-do and it makes sense to prepare children for that eventuality.
- wan23 12y ago
  You should want to do the things you need to do because you understand the consequences of not doing them. Consider this: many unsuccessful people spend all day doing things that they have to do because someone told them so, whereas the most successful people in our society have the means to do anything or nothing at all but choose to work at the highest levels as CEOs and Congressmen. Teaching children how to make good decisions on their own is much more valuable than teaching them how to sit still because someone said so.

>That's not how life always works, though. Why? What makes life that? Nature? A social construct? I'm willing to bet is the second thing, and I don't believe questioning such things is bad.

zzalpha 12y ago

No, it's just... life. If I did only the things I wanted to do in any given moment, I pretty well guarantee you our lawn would never be mowed, the dishes would go undone, dinner would frequently not get made, etc. Not to be too snarky, but... that you're questioning that makes me wonder if you've ever actually had to run your own household, or work in a real-life job, or generally operate as an adult, which is practically defined as finding that balance between doing what you want and doing what is needed.

dethstar 12y ago
I'm not saying it's right or wrong to do or not what you want. I'm saying that questioning such thing is okay. There's no physics or natural law that dictates it has to be this way. This is the life we have built. Nothing to do with my personal experience running a household, work or ability to operate as an adult. But questioning stuff is just part of critical thinking.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- ForHackernews 12y ago
  > There's no physics or natural law that dictates it has to be this way. Yes there is: At a very basic level, humans need to eat food to live. If nobody wanted to do the work necessary to procure food, everyone would starve. Maybe at some point in the near-ish future we will have automated away all unpleasant-but-necessary tasks, but that day is not today, and when it does arrive, it will be a new development for our species. Until then, being a responsible adult will involve at least some modicum of doing-things-that-one-doesn't-want-to-do and it makes sense to prepare children for that eventuality.
wan23 12y ago
You should want to do the things you need to do because you understand the consequences of not doing them. Consider this: many unsuccessful people spend all day doing things that they have to do because someone told them so, whereas the most successful people in our society have the means to do anything or nothing at all but choose to work at the highest levels as CEOs and Congressmen. Teaching children how to make good decisions on their own is much more valuable than teaching them how to sit still because someone said so.