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Comment by dododo | Hacker News Reader

george orwell (who also wrote 1984) conducted a similar experiment in the late 1920s and wrote a book about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_and_Out_in_Paris_and_Londo...

Was going to mention that myself. I just finished both Down and Out in Paris and London and Keep the Aspidistra Flying. Orwell's commentary on money is definitely worth checking out. A very different glimpse of capitalism than that often seen on HN.

If you want to get a sense of Orwell's writings about poverty, but you're not sure you want a whole book, try his essay "The Spike." It's available in Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, as well as in many other collections or selections of his essays. You can also find it online:

http://books.google.com/books?id=WREtVBBT9lEC&lpg=PA1... (changed link to Google books; removed short link)

Don't use URL shorteners here. http://books.google.com/books?id=WREtVBBT9lEC&lpg=PA1...

I'm curious: is that a personal preference or a convention of the site? I don't think I've noticed it one way or the other.

Ah, sorry for being brusque. It's a convention here. http://searchyc.com/comments/use+URL+shorteners

No worries about the tone, which was fine. I just wanted to know. Thanks for the link.

So did Tyra Banks - http://www.wwtdd.com/2008/02/tyra-banks-knows-what-its-like/

When I first saw the title of this post, I immediately thought of Seneca (the Roman Stoic writer) playing at slavery and poverty. I haven't read the Seneca in a long time, but my strong impression when I read it was that he trivialized the whole thing by dressing in rags for a day once a year and proving to himself he could handle it. I'm guessing that your comment is implying something like that about Banks, Orwell and this blogger.

I don't know (and don't much care) what Tyra Banks did and I need to read the blogger more fully (I've only skimmed it), but Orwell spent years of his life (at different times) investigating poverty. The simulated or forced poverty he underwent in England was measured in months, not days or weeks (in 1927 and 1928). He also explicitly discussed (and agonized over) how "real" his poverty was given that he could wire home for money (and sometimes did, as I recall). I think that simulation can only go so far, but not all simulations are equal.

I was making a tongue cheek comment about Tyra. It had no reflection on Orwell.

My misunderstanding then: apparently I feel more strongly about George Orwell than I knew.

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