Comment by creep | Hacker News Reader

Comment by creep | Hacker News Reader

This was very cool. I'm only 23, but I'm always thinking about the future, always planning for when I get old. I definitely don't ever see myself "retiring"-- and I mean that: I will never not be interested in what I'm interested in now. If I stop working formally I will start to work informally, and I never want to be cordoned off into an "island for seniors".

Whenever I think about growing old I also think about the statement "living while you're young". That statement is a little weird to me. There are people in society who lead unsatisfying lives when they're young so that they can have what they want now when they're older. Then there are those who are against the sentiment and choose to do everything while they're young, waiting to figure out the rest later. There's a balance to strike there and I'm looking for it. I don't want to restrict myself now while I'm full of energy and hope and potential, but I also don't want to blow my paycheque on some novelty toy, or even on trips around the world and possibly cripple myself for the future. I don't want to get into a crazy skydiving accident and permanently damage my body.

Anyways, that was a really very interesting article. I learned a lot.

> I definitely don't ever see myself "retiring"-- and I mean that: I will never not be interested in what I'm interested in now. If I stop working formally I will start to work informally, and I never want to be cordoned off into an "island for seniors".

I believe you're making a "I hope" statement and treating it like a fact. You're 23, you're still young - life happens. Spouse, kids, mortgages, sickness, injury, tragedy, joy, all that stuff happens and it changes you and how you look at the world and what you value. By all means love what you're doing, but don't expect you won't change. The joy is you don't need to prepare for it - it'll happen whether you're observing it or not.

Yeah, life happens, and I know what change is like, but from my viewpoint, my interests won't change that much. Maybe one day I won't want to work anymore, but I will still want to "do". Doesn't every body want to "do"? I like math. It's kind of hard not to like math once you start liking it, you know? It's a pretty broad thing to be interested in, and could mean a number of different things for my future.

If you ever have a child you might find you want to spend more time with her than doing math. This isn't a problem, it's part of being human

When I was your age I thought I'd always play the guitar. It was inconceivable that I would ever not play the guitar. While I wouldn't go so far as to say I don't play anymore, 23 year old me would be appalled at how little I play.

This is just a small example to demonstrate that the things you value now will change. You can't predict how or what will change, but they will :)

It isn't that one doesn't like to "do" things or not have interests. It is that the world changes, you change, life changes, and interests evolve and many folks develop new ones. And it seems that you discount the effect these things have on life. It is really easy to say that, "my interests won't change much" when you are on the end of youth. More to the point, though: Your brain hasn't quite stopped developing. You've not reached the change a lot of folks experience in their late 20's. And so on.

I mean, I moved countries (permanently) at age 35. (I'm 40 now). I've learned a language (not fluent yet, but still). I've had times where I've simply not had the time and/or the inclination to do much with my main hobby (art), and over the years it has changed vastly. Other things have came and went, no matter how much I enjoyed them at the time. I didn't guess this stuff would happen to me at your age, though. Life happens. There is no point in trying to speculate on these things, especially if they risk keeping you in a set mindset without evaluation over the years.

10 years ago the odds were good you'd say you'd always love comic books and actions figures and hated girls, and that wasn't ever going to change. Mind you, puberty is a drastic change and has a neat way or realigning your priorities, but so does a lot of things.

> This was very cool. I'm only 23, but I'm always thinking about the future, always planning for when I get old.

Okay.

> I definitely don't ever see myself "retiring"-- and I mean that: I will never not be interested in what I'm interested in now.

Okay.

We were all 23 once too. We all took philosophy or literature class and thought we figured it out too. Just a word of advice, people change, life change, society changes and even you change. Ah to be young again...

You assume as you age you'll figure out things better and really just find life easier - I've found it just becomes a larger list of fears and unknowns. You get better at handling them, but they keep popping up. Your values are challenged and what you thought was important shift. That surety you had when you were just starting out evaporates as you now need to keep your family/job/house functioning like a pile of spinning plates. You get bigger and bigger rewards, but the obstacles also get bigger and more and more varied to match.

Do you think that because I'm young I haven't experienced significant or profound change? My opinions don't come from a philosophy class. That's a bit naive of you.

I "get" it. There's so much more left for me to experience. But you and I both stand from our positions and project these positions onto the future, inaccurately.

You can't say shit until you're dead, but there's no point in stifling your predictions until then ('cause you'll be dead).

> But you and I both stand from our positions and project these positions onto the future, inaccurately.

The difference being that the one further ahead can look back at what happened to them and understand the shifts. You're only trying to project forward. This is one of those "speaking from experience" deals.

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