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martopix commented on The happiest I've ever been   ben-mini.com/2026/the-hap... · Posted by u/bewal416
nvarsj · 12 days ago
There’s an entire generation of mostly childless adults who are shocked to find they enjoy contributing to others’ happiness. I have friends like this, their only purpose in life is to have no responsibilities, FIRE, and never give to anyone but themselves. Seems like a terribly depressing way to live but pretty common in tech/upper middle class circles.
martopix · 11 days ago
> There’s an entire generation of mostly childless adults who are shocked to find they enjoy contributing to others’ happiness.

This is very well put.

I think the culture today is what pushes us towards that: we have a very individualistic culture, which I think comes from the US. I'm from southern Europe, where family used to be very important, whereas now we've adopted a much more individual-centered view.

We have "freedom" as a value, but it's hard to tell what to do with it. You are privileged, therefore you can do whatever you want. But what is it that I want? What do I do with my freedom, privilege, options? We also need an objective, and "to be happy" is not a good objective, because we humans are very bad at predicting what will make us happy. Seeing stereotyped photos of happy people on tropical beaches on Instagram makes it even harder to remember what happiness is.

For happiness you need objectives, things you believe in, a sense of purpose.

martopix commented on The happiest I've ever been   ben-mini.com/2026/the-hap... · Posted by u/bewal416
Aurornis · 12 days ago
> but pretty common in tech/upper middle class circles.

It's common in some tech and upper middle class bubbles, but outside of some startups and a few VHCOL cities most of the 40+ people in tech I encounter have families.

I think the mindset is most popular in internet bubbles like Reddit. Reddit went mainstream a decade ago and many people in their 30s and 40s grew up reading a lot of Reddit. Reddit cleaned up their popular subreddits list years ago, but for a while subreddits like r/childfree were constantly in everyone's default feeds. Redditors would talk about people who had kids as "breeders" as a derogatory term and treat them like they'd made terrible decisions with their lives.

I didn't realize how much this carried over into the real world until my friends and I started having kids. I knew a few people who treated our decisions like we were making terrible mistakes and throwing our lives away. I still encounter people from younger generations who are confused when I say that I like spending time with my kids. They can't imagine how that would be enjoyable in any way. When you grow up with your chosen social media telling you that the smart people are maximizing their bank accounts, minimizing their responsibilities, and doing as little as possible to get there, they can't fathom how someone could be happy with kids.

martopix · 12 days ago
I think this is an oversimplification of a much more general social phenomenon. In much of the world, the mainstream social message is still that kids are what you should get your life's purpose and fulfillment from. Maybe not so much for men, but very much so for women. There is a reaction to that social expectation, which is independent of Reddit (it's true even in China etc).

I'm myself very happy I don't have children. I'm gay and can't adopt in my country, so I'm also happy I don't have any desire to have children, because that would be a problem. However I do really like working with teens, and it's very important to me on a gut level.

martopix commented on The happiest I've ever been   ben-mini.com/2026/the-hap... · Posted by u/bewal416
martopix · 12 days ago
I've quit my career in academia three years ago and teach high school kids instead. I can totally relate, I'm just so much happier: I love those four things he listed, except the fourth for me is physics instead of basketball.
martopix commented on The True Size Of   thetruesize.com/... · Posted by u/thunderbong
martopix · 10 months ago
I recommend trying Antarctica! It's tiny compared to the Pacific. I didn't expect it to fit into the Indian ocean.
martopix commented on “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System   skyatnightmagazine.com/ne... · Posted by u/fuidani
andreygrehov · a year ago
Beethoven’s music directly impacts human lives. It evokes emotion and inspires creativity. Its value lies in its immediate effect. In contrast, knowing that life exists millions of light-years away offers no such tangible impact. It’s a data point. An interesting one, sure, but it doesn’t feed the hungry, cure disease, change policy, or even affect your commute. So yea, Beethoven is a lived experience, whereas aliens in Andromeda are an abstract concept.
martopix · a year ago
No, for me knowing certain mind-blowing scientific facts is, personally, as cool as listening to Beethoven.
martopix commented on I wrote to the address in the GPLv2 license notice (2022)   code.mendhak.com/gpl-v2-a... · Posted by u/ekiauhce
martopix · a year ago
Writing the address on the envelope was awkward, as I haven’t used a pen in several years;

Really??

martopix commented on Mark Zuckerberg says social media is over   newyorker.com/culture/inf... · Posted by u/FinnLobsien
seydor · a year ago
> Meta displayed a chart showing that the “percent of time spent viewing content posted by ‘friends’ ” has declined in the past two years, from twenty-two per cent to seventeen per cent on Facebook, and from eleven per cent to seven per cent on Instagram

Such a liar. Of course users will watch whatever FB shoves in their eyes. That doesn't make it a preference.

> Meta exhibited a graphic of a boxing ring showing the logos of Instagram, Facebook, and the various companies that Meta argues are competitors, including TikTok, YouTube, and Apple’s iMessage,

So his defense is that Facebook & Insta are just like youtube and tiktok. But Google is already under fire for divesting youtube, and tiktok is banned. Is that a good defense?

martopix · a year ago
It depends on what you mean by "preference". If you show me a pic of a hot guy and the picture that a friend took while hiking, I'll probably look at the hot guy for longer, so one could claim I prefer it. But that doesn't mean I think it's better to spend my time like that.
martopix commented on Mark Zuckerberg says social media is over   newyorker.com/culture/inf... · Posted by u/FinnLobsien
philipwhiuk · a year ago
> Meta displayed a chart showing that the “percent of time spent viewing content posted by ‘friends’ ” has declined in the past two years,

Yeah, because you filled the feed with garbage so obviously they don't get to see as much.

Has 'percentage of time viewing content' declined?

martopix · a year ago
Instagram actually used to be quite nice when it was pics of friends. Now I find it scary.
martopix commented on “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System   skyatnightmagazine.com/ne... · Posted by u/fuidani
andreygrehov · a year ago
Let’s assume there is alien life on many planets beyond our solar system. Now what? What’s the practical benefit?
martopix · a year ago
What's the practical benefit of Beethoven?
martopix commented on “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System   skyatnightmagazine.com/ne... · Posted by u/fuidani
aardvark179 · a year ago
You seem to be conflating life, multicellular life, and intelligent life. Life appears to have developed on Earth pretty quickly, multicellular life took a long time to appear, and we are only aware of one species that developed civilisation building capabilities.

Life might be very common, but intelligent life still be incrediblY rare.

martopix · a year ago
It depends what you mean by "civilization building". I think we gloss over that a bit too much. We're not the largest population, not the largest total mass, not the only one that builds large structures. We're the only one that sent stuff outside of Earth, yes, and a few other things. But discussing the definition is itself interesting

u/martopix

KarmaCake day1548November 15, 2019
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