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I’m pleased he has made an artsy phone case he likes really, but this is another round of Raspberry Pi feeblemindedness. Why would someone with a powerful skill in recursive neural networks make a phone case? - when there are so many areas to focus on, challenges we’re facing together, where even failure would deliver real value to the community. What’s up with these hobbyists and their cute blinking LED projects? You don’t have to change the world but choose some objective that at least has a chance of delivering real value and utility. What am I missing? Tell me I’m wrong and how

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I mean he enjoyed making it! Not only is he increasing his skills making his next project better he is also sharing it with others potentially getting more people interested in that field both of which are helping the "community"!

Really whats the point in living if all you do is work for the "grater good" without ever having fun? I got into programing purely because I wanted to create something for a video game that was missing. In zero way was this productive for society! I'm 99% sure that Doug got into programing for a similar reason: because it was fun for him!

Are people not allowed hobbies? Are we only allowed to do both what we are good at and what will have the most impact?

Well he’s free to do whatever he wants. But creating someone with that education is a type of investment society makes. There’s a high cost to the community and yes of course the group expects something in return. It’s kind of like the lying flat movement in China. They can do what they please, but wouldn’t it be nice if they enjoyed helping the people around them? Is that too much to ask?

Yes it is too much to ask. We cannot turn people into robots that do our bidding.

But isn’t that exactly what we are? Complex biological machines designed by the group through natural selection manufactured in volume in a distributed factory with the express and only purpose to serve our creator - since we were made in its image. (I’m atheist but that fit so well)

No we are not machines. You can tell a computer to try and solve a problem for years on end without a problem. Try and get a person to spend their entire lives trying to "improve" the world without any diversions or fun in the slightest and they'll burn out within a week.

Working 40 hours a week is payback enough, what people do with their other time is their decision. I hate the need to always hustle or be productive.

Besides, he made something many here enjoy. Thus his work did have value.

If anything, allowing people to experiment is probably a net win for society in the long run.

Why are you wasting the investment that your community made in you, by spending time trolling on hackernews? You’re not helping further anything for society with these comments.

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