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I'm curious, have other people here found that giving makes them happier? I generally haven't found that to be the case. A typically givewell donation for me: a) reminds me that there's an obscene amount of suffering out there that I'm ignoring 99% of the time, and b) makes me feel guilty for not giving away more. I mean, I guess it makes me happier than not giving, since I'd feel even more guilty then. But in general it seems to me like the Peter Singer/Givewell/Effective Altruism approach to charity doesn't really lend itself to "feel-good" giving. More like, "soothe your conscience very slightly" giving.
In response to
Should We Tell People That Giving Makes Them Happier?
I have the same issue. My solution is to set aside a block of money to give away, 80% of which goes to GiveWell's top choice and 20% of which I give away trying to maximize warm fuzzies. The warm fuzzies money ends up going to things like coworkers' fund raisers, friends who need it, NPR, and local causes I feel emotionally drawn to.
I'm pretty sure the warm fuzzies I get don't scale linearly with dollar amount, so I prefer to give lots of small amounts from the 20% instead of bulk-donating it to one thing. Ideally I would find a way to calibrate myself so I get the most warm fuzzies from giving to the most effective charities, but I haven't had success with that yet.
They're just not part of his life and he has no interest in joining one.
Just curious: do you know he has no interest, or do you assume he has no interest?
Yeah, I realized that while writing it. You're right - I don't know for sure that he has no interest at all. Although it is true that he hasn't made an account here despite reading and enjoying some posts here.
I have also never heard him mention any other online communities, and I talk to him often enough that I'd expect it to come up.
Retirees have the wisdom of experience, are seasoned writers, and have few external obligations. Contributing to LW would not be a waste of their time or abilities.
How many retirees post here?
Do people know retired professors or other smart retired people who would do well on Less Wrong?
As one data point, my father has been retired for 7 years. He got a PhD in physics and then became a software engineer after deciding he didn't really enjoy research. He's interested in LessWrong-y topics like rationality, optimal philanthropy, and some of the areas of philosophy that are often discussed here. He's read and enjoyed some of the articles I've linked him to on LessWrong. He should be a shoe-in, right?
But he didn't grow up in a time when online communities were a thing. They're just not part of his life and he has no interest in joining one.
Do you?
Not recently. Honestly, though, I'm not sure typical programming work is the sort that people who think they like programming enjoy... think writing glue code and tracking down other people's bugs.
Or is it a grind that you do for no reason but to pay the bills?
I decided a while ago that I'm an extrinsically motivated person and trying to figure out "what I loved" wasn't going to be a good strategy for me. My impression is that careers like doctor, lawyer, and banker are typically pursued by extrinsically motivated people who aren't actually passionate about doctoring/lawyering/banking.
Cal Newport wrote a book called So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. 80,000 hours has a summary on their blog: 1, 2. Other blog posts.
Why do "typical programming work" then? Do more interesting programming work. Have you spent significant time trying to find a programming job you'd like more?
I used to do "writing glue code and tracking down other people's bugs" type work, as well as building new features (in a system I already knew well, not learning much) based entirely on someone else's designs and priorities.
I changed jobs in January and the new one's much more challenging and fun. I have creative input, leadership opportunities, and mostly do my own tasking, working on whatever I think is important or interesting. I also have more variety in tasks, which I enjoy. I probably only spend about half my day coding now and spend the other time project planning, learning new stuff, designing and architecting new features, or doing other non-coding tasks. The new job also pays better :)
I'm a lot happier, and I feel like I'm actually learning and improving, whereas I was kind of stagnant before. The good programming jobs ARE out there, and IMO it's worth trying to get them.
In response to
Unlimited Pomodoro Works: My Scheduling System
I really really like the idea of allowing you to go to any website you want but you have to wait 10 seconds if you're supposed to be doing something else. Is there an existing chrome plugin that does this?
There's one called "Delayed Gratification" that does this, but for 30 seconds instead of 10. I don't think it's configurable, but it's super easy to use.
This sounds great!
I have some questions, if you would like to answer them:
1) Have you needed to make any adjustments over these 5 months (in order to spend less)? If not, are you planning to?
2) How do you know that you will enjoy living frugally and not work? Compared with, say, the "mini-retirements" of Tim Ferriss, which are basically week-to-month long vacations in between work.
3) How long until you expect to be able to retire?
I'll answer here too since I'm doing something similar. I'm a 25 year old software engineer and make about $140k/year before taxes. I live on about $35k, donate some money on top of that, and invest the rest.
1) I try to keep my large recurring monthly obligations low, but I spend pretty freely on smaller things. I live in a city but keep my rent cheap by living with 4 roommates. I don't own a car - I bike, walk, and take public transit, and occasionally use a zip car. All together my housing and transportation costs come out to about $750/month. I spend plenty of money though at restaurants, gyms, and Amazon.
2) I already know that I enjoy living relatively frugally. I have everything I need and lots of the things I want. I don't think I'd be any happier if I spent more money. I'm not sure I'd enjoy not working, but I figure it can't hurt to have the freedom to stop whenever I want, or do "work" that doesn't generate income. If I decide I really want a full-time job, I will probably choose to work and then donate all my income.
3) According to Mr Money Mustache I'm on track to retire at around 36 years old (11 years from now).
Welp, AFAIK you can only click the "parent" hypertext at the top of the comment, which in this case requires four slow pageloads to access the OP.
I will therefore save you the pain.
So close! I clicked it twice and then decided to stop since I had no idea how many "parents" there would be before the top. Thanks for the link!
In response to
[LINK] 23andme is 99$ now
This HN comment argues that most of the current value is novelty. The thread contains other bits of insight, including more hopeful ones.
Sorry if this is a silly question - I'm pretty new to HN. How can I see the parent thread?
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It's not so much a trick as that it's impossible to hit the bottom position of the snatch without shoes.
Absolute money value are a function of income, savings, etc. But sure, having felt the difference in my lower back I'd say they're worth at least a grand, probably more. One can just put their heels on 2.5lb weights at the gym for free, but this is somewhat precarious with very heavy weights.
Most people aren't snatching though. I haven't seen many beginners who can't hit depth on a high-bar or low-bar squat because of ankle mobility issues. If there are mobility problems, they're usually in the hips. I don't think weightlifting shoes are worth it for most beginners, unless they're actually doing olympic-style weightlifting (snatch, clean, and jerk). Or unless they have a high income and don't value the ~$100 very much.