Ask HN: How can you stand sitting at computers all day?
This is not what humans are meant to do. This is not social and not fun. Why are we slaving away like that? Building complex is fun up to a point, aren't we taking this too far?
I think that's the key. To work with a purpose and objective. If I had to surf Facebook 9 hours a day it would certainly not be fun and I too would very much feel like I am slaving my life away.
Personally, I find I'm a better coder when I get up and move around on a regular basis. I'll work for an hour or two, then go for a walk. Come back, work for another hour or two, go get some coffee from the coffee shop on the other end of campus. Rinse and repeat. Often times I'll be able to work out a problem or have a great idea while I'm walking.
There's this idea that to be a coder you have to be in front of a computer every waking moment, but the most successful programmers and engineers I know are the ones who know when to step away, who leave the work at work, and take care of themselves physically and emotionally. Otherwise, you're right, it's not sustainable at all.
I have coffee and a croissant while reading a book everyday at roughly 10am, then meals at 1pm, 4pm, and 9pm, and sleep from roughly 1am to 9am. Funny question :)
Although, I agree there are more things to life than sitting at computers all day, I suspect the elt0n is an extrovert who doesn't get introversion.
for instance, if I were to also read books, listen to music and take long walks all by myself, it still would not fit in with elt0n's view of what humans are 'meant' to do.
elt0n reads books, plays music, and takes long walks by himself, but he believes the answer to life is not only 42, but also people. Think about it, do the very best moments in your life involve a book or a walk or music, or other people?
elt0n doesn't quite fit in either introvert or extrovert generalizations, but the social interactions in the tech world don't seem nearly as exciting as those outside of it. It seems people view tech as an end instead of a mean, and maybe that's where the idea of slaving away comes from.
Regardless, what do you think is elt0n's view of what humans are meant to do? Party all day and talk loudly? I would also think so based on the quote you took out of an already poorly phrased context.
Yes, some of the best moments in my life do involve people but only in the 'more than one person' sense and not in the 'more than 3 or 4 person'. And yes, some of them do also involve just myself.
To reiterate, I do agree with you about not making your life all about one thing, I just don't agree with you about what is 'fun'.
Generally speaking I wish more software engineers put their money to these sorts of endeavors rather than the expensive luxury hobbies many indulge in. Not to say you can't buy the latest gadget, sail, whatever, but many engineers make so much money and it's amazing how little you need to spend to make the world a better, more interesting place to live in.