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Comment by xkeysc0re | Hacker News Reader

I am really really grateful I am not this kind of person. Not everything needs to be quantified and analyzed. I'm glad OP had fun with the exercise but this drive to amass data will only lead to human suffering and oppression down the line

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I get this impulse, but I think OPs experiment really does have some redeeming qualities. While I certainly wouldn’t want to bean-count my time forever, I imagine that performing this exercise for some period of time would make one more thoughtful & intentional about how one spends their time. Sometimes you need the data to see that you’re spending way more time than you’d desire on social media, or not enough time with your friends, etc. I equate it to counting calories while dieting; doing it forever leads to horrible quality of life (imo), doing it for a month or two teaches you how much food you actually need and makes you more mindful about your consumption.

EDIT: Also, the point of this sort of exercise isn’t merely to ‘become more productive’ - it’s to gather data to help achieve whatever outcome you find valuable in your life. Maybe it’s studying more for his exams (certainly different than working more at your 9 to 5 bigco job fwiw), maybe it’s spending more quality time with family, etc. The point is collecting this sort of data doesn’t necessarily lead solely to optimizing your output under capitalism, it can be a tool for better living. I think.

Yeah, I saw the title of this blog post and it immediately depressed me. The idea of tracking my time minutely in some effort to be more efficient or "productive" seems to be the antithesis of being human.

> this drive to amass data will only lead to human suffering and oppression down the line

On a large scale, science (and economics) is a drive to amass data, which has led to vast reductions in human suffering.

Amassing data lets one (and mankind) make decisions not on random conjecture or feeling, but on a solid footing, which results in better decisions on how to allocate resources. Not gathering data where it's possible to do so results in more human suffering from making sub-optimal decisions from bad inputs.

I think there's a sweet spot somewhere. We're tending towards too much data now with hourly employees working from home but have their screens monitored for constant activity, even if it isn't value-producing.

Exactly. The positivist drive to quantify and accumulate "data points" about everything as though life is just an optimization problem is dangerous and only serves entrenched forces.

Quantification is a means to control. Some things - in my opinion - ought not to be controlled.

I suspect the parent comment is referring to amassing personally identifiable information

> Amassing data lets one (and mankind) make decisions not on random conjecture or feeling, but on a solid footing, which results in better decisions on how to allocate resources

"Better" is extremely relative. Better for whom?

Well, to start, the tens of billions of people in total that have been fed over the past century by modern farming. The tens of billions total that have been pulled from poverty over the last 50 years. The billions right now getting vastly better medical care than their ancestors.

What percentage of people would you claim worldwide or over the past 100 years are worse off as a result of science and economic advances? Care to list why they're worse off in total?

I don't understand this viewpoint. This type of data is being misused already. I think it would be a net positive for individuals to get their own data and use it for positive outcomes. It shouldn't be shared with the world at large, but when I've tracked certain info about myself, it has helped me immensely.

I also think that the data itself can be used for positive outcomes... The manual tracking though (every 15 min.) is the downside.

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