agent008t

But yet, if you do have children, you would do it precisely in your 20s and 30s. So by the time you are 50 you will still be living alone or with just a husband/wife.

We are on HN, and the average US home price will not get you very far in NY, London, SF etc. If you want a decent academic environment (which again, I would assume most HN people would require, unlike non-HN US average), it seems like you pretty much have to go private in those cities.

It obviously is about 'you', given that the children in question do not exist yet.

False dichotomy. Not procreating does not imply a life of self-indulgence. Just like choosing to not sleep 5 hours a night and getting a 2nd job during the freed up hours to donate the proceeds to charity or imposing any other needless hardship on yourself imply a life of self-indulgence.

I would note that the grandparent was not disputing the upcoming 'hardship, difficulty and pain' (i.e. 'doom and negativity') that come with procreation, so at least that bit does not seem to be out of place.

300K would barely cover the cost of an extra bedroom per child. Let alone the fact that some places around the world require one to send their child to private school, fund university costs etc.

When blind and demented, the only help one would probably need is to cease to be.

Is there a primal drive in most people though? I do not think any of my friends in high school or in college had any great longing of becoming a father - did you? They had plenty of other drives, though. So if this primal drive you speak of exists, it must somehow appear out of seemingly nowhere - indeed out of aversion - after one's mid 20. And the mechanism for that eludes me. What sort of hormonal changes lead to it? Is it a gradual change, or do you wake up one morning and think 'God, you know what I'd really love? To be looking after a baby!'

I disagree. For example, let us consider someone who has not considered getting a cat or thinks that there are no benefits to living with a cat. They asked people living with cats for advice, just like OP. A reasonable cat housemate would not say "people who genuinely want cats don't go through exercises like this; the fact you've made this post at all makes it abundantly clear that your decision has already been made". What would they say instead?

1. Spend some time with someone who lives with a cat and loves it. Watch them interacting with cats and have them teach you how to communicate with cats, play with them and understand them and be understood by them. Hopefully this will get rid of preconceived notions of what cats are like and teach you, vicariously, the joys of cat companionship.

2. Ask to look after a friend's cat that you are OK with for 2-3 weeks, while they go on holiday etc. Have the cat move in with you for that time period and try to make friends. You will probably have a decent idea then if living with a cat will make your life better or not.

Now, of course, they would also make you aware of the downsides. It is difficult to travel, especially during busy periods like Christmas, as you have to find someone to look after the cat. They make wake you up at night or scratch you at times. Looking after them and playing with them is an additional time commitment. Unfortunately, chances are you will outlive them. But they would also inform you of the benefits (that you would've experienced when living with a cat for 3 weeks) and let you decide if the benefits outweigh the costs for you: cats are funny, furry independent creatures; they warm the soul. Etc. etc.

So why does it not work the same way with children? "Look after a friends' children for 3 weeks while their parents go on holidays, and you will experience the joys and know if they outweigh the negatives" seems to never be mentioned.

Having read this thread, it is hard for me to understand why anybody would voluntarily do this to the person they love and to themselves.

Morpheus: I was a prototype for Echelon IV. My instructions are to amuse visitors with information about themselves.

JC Denton: I don't see anything amusing about spying on people.

Morpheus: Human beings feel pleasure when they are watched. I have recorded their smiles as I tell them who they are.

JC Denton: Some people just don't understand the dangers of indiscriminate surveillance.

Morpheus: The need to be observed and understood was once satisfied by God. Now we can implement the same functionality with data-mining algorithms.

For what you are looking for, you need an agent-based model of the economy, i.e. the economy modelled from the ground up. Top-down models will not be able to capture unknown unknowns.

The closest to what you are looking for that I know of is this: https://github.com/crisis-economics/CRISIS.

Thanks, good article.

I have a data point that is perhaps relevant. I went to school in Eastern Europe in the 90s, and my education from secondary school onwards was naturally modular.

Normal day school was from 8:30-12:40 or 8:30-13:30 most days, with homework afterwards. But it was effectively optional - quality of education was tailored to the lowest common denominator, and it was universally understood that you are not getting into any decent university by just attending school. Universities set their own entrance exams, school marks did not matter to them, and they did not care how you got to reach the high entrance bar that they set. So teachers, principals, parents all understood and acknowledged that preparing for entrance exams comes first, that they are probably not qualified enough to prepare you, and so school comes second.

And there were many options for actually learning. Many parents paid for private tutors. But there were also (free) computer clubs, where somebody would volunteer to work with children on programming or 3d modelling projects - some structured, and some unstructured, where you would just turn up, try to create, ask questions and be helped out, progressing at your own pace through your own interest. There were very affordable maths and physics classes by post - where they would mail you textbooks and a timetable, and you would mail back completed homework, receiving feedback. There were evening schools, some of them free, where you would attend lectures and classes in person, mostly geared towards maths and physics, which would give you first class education - if you cared to learn.

If you skipped school or did not do your homework, or were even working on something of your own during classes, it was tolerated by the 'compulsory' schools. So effectively, you were free to pursue your own modular education in the spirit that you describe. And those that wanted to learn, people that I know, did very well out of it.

School from 9am to 3pm at a young age when childcare is most required is ridiculously long hours. This suggests to me that schools already take on much of the daycare role. That to me also seems very wrong.

School should first and foremost concern itself with effective education. If children can only study effectively for 2-3 hours a day, that is how long schoolday should last. Parents that need childcare should seek it elsewhere - that should be outside of the scope of schools' responsibilities.

Why "especially when you're young"?

Arguably, any consumption activities are better done when old, and investment activities when young. Effort when young pays off with tons of compounding over your lifespan. Effort when old is not as important, and so pure consumption non-productive activities are probably better enjoyed when old, are they not? Especially if it is something like videogames that doesn't exactly require some great physical abilities.

The problem is that the things you think you enjoy and that recharge you may not actually be what you empirically enjoy and what empirically recharges you.

For example, playing a game, or browsing youtube, or scrolling through social media, or reading the news, or even browsing HN for that matter you may think of as something you do to relax. It could be, however, that actually, doing some woodwork, or practicing a musical instrument, or learning a language, or going for a walk in nature, empirically recharges you a lot better, and you actually enjoy the days when you get to do these activities a lot more - and it makes your time outside those activities more enjoyable too.

These are just examples, it may not work for you in the same way, and all of these activities can be done in 'recharging' and 'non-recharging' ways perhaps. The important thing here is that what you think recharges you and what empirically actually recharges you may be very different things.

What is noteworthy about it?

There will always be a dependency on resources or products from other countries - especially if we truly respect the rights of self-determination of arbitrarily small nations and city-states. True sovereignty of these states also means that they have the right to not trade with us for any reason, does it not?

There will also always be disagreements on fundamental ethical issues between countries. Even between the states in the US you can see such disagreements.

What we seem to lack is a principle for dealing with such situations. Instead, ad-hoc, inconsistent measures tend to be taken. It seems like if the true principle guiding such decisions were publicly announced, the general public would find it unpalatable. Are we living in willful denial?

Can such a principle then exist, that would both be consistent with our declared values, without compromising our ability to survive and defend ourselves and act according to it?

It does not matter how much money a generation has saved, if the next generation is not there to provide the goods and services for them.

Acting without thinking does not sound like a recipe for a good life.

What exactly is the problem? Is it that you ruminate, thinking in circles, instead of thinking productively?

Try writing down the problems you are ruminating about. Then write down your thoughts on how to solve them. Then write down the solution, even if the solution is that there is no solution and you should leave the problem aside for a specific amount of time. Then practice mindfulness, so that you very quickly become aware when you start to ruminate on problems you have either already solved or decided to put away, and not feed the rumination.

Given the potential serious, life-changing adverse effects that persist even after stopping use - no thanks. Just cut your hair short / shave your head.

Is there a problem with using GBoard, but blocking its internet access with NetGuard?

I thought that is supposed to be the easy time?

As in, when children are born, the first 6 months are a nightmare, the next ~3 years are extremely tough, then as they get more independent and grown that's when it gets good? That 'pre- and early-teen' is supposed to be the best part, when you can more-or-less deal with them like with adults and they are fairly independent?

You should play a recent game called "Lake" — it deals with pretty much the exact situation you describe.

Look up /r/personalfinance, /r/fire, /r/fatfire.

Be aware that it is unreasonable to expect returns higher than ~5.5%/year over inflation — and that is if you're really prepared to lose 50% of the value of your assets and not have them recover for 10-15 years. If you are being offered higher returns, it is very likely you are not fully aware of the risks you are taking on.

Linux still has horrible font rendering, which makes web browsing uncomfortable. It doesn't come close to Windows or Mac. Fonts often appear soapy, kerning is off etc.

A 3+ year old car still working as intended is an extremely low bar for a car.

A car from the 70s, with proper care, would still work today just as well as it did when it was brand new.

In my view, a car should only require software updates in very rare circumstances. It should come with hardware and corresponding software that is fit for purpose and works. Most definitely I do not ever want any over-the-air updates. Requiring updates is a sign that the software was not properly engineered in the first place. I do not want that in my car.

If, for example, we are talking about upgrading the entertainment system, then it should just be made modular, like it used to be. Want to get an improved entertainment system with a better screen / better navigation system etc.? Take the old one out and install a new one. But the old one must keep working as well as on day one 20 years in the future, without any required software updates, even if the manufacturer goes bankrupt.

I would stay away from the 'Ton, though. Bad shit going down.

They are in a situation they now cannot realistically change and that they are 'supposed' to enjoy. There is a lot of pressure to convince themselves they are now happier 'overall', even if actually each of their days is now less happy.

The fact is, you will encounter plenty of misery in life regardless. You should not choose based on what makes you happy, but arguably based on what kinds of misery you are more suited to - the misery of having children or the misery of not having children.

For biological inclination, a sex drive is all that's required to ensure children are produced. Biology doesn't care if you are happy or not afterwards.