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Comment by jjulius | Hacker News Reader

I highly recommend simply enjoying the walk.

I think you're missing the counterfactual. I now have two choices: 1) sit behind my desk and work, or 2) walk and talk something out.

Before this model, the voice models were pretty dumb and annoying to work with. We'll see if this changes that.

3) walk and think

You could walk and talk it out without anyone on the other end too. Works for me, at least. People just assume I'm on the phone.

Seems a bit knee jerk. I go on walks and bike rides all the time. A couple of times I’ve used voice mode and it’s been interesting. I could have listened to music or a podcast, listen to YouTube or just unplug. But every walk is different.

If you’re uncomfortable with this new world, and I’m sure I am even as I participate, you could tell us more about that?

Every time something along these lines is posted, comments like this show up.

The thing I don't get is...no one would say this about listening to a podcast or audiobook on a walk.

I'm not sure why people choose to demonize this specific use of time during walks.

> ...no one would say this about listening to a podcast or audiobook on a walk.

I highly recommend simply enjoying the walk. :)

This may not be you, but the people who have said that to me irl walk significantly less than I do. And saying these things to people who don't yet exercise can make them far less likely to start as it's a far bigger step to do so. Podcasts and recorded lectures are what got me exercising in the first place, because I was excited to hear the next part. I now only have headprones on some of my walks, but the gateway drug of entertainment was a very useful stepping stone. And still often better than sitting at a desk.

People can enjoy different things, people can be neurodiverse, different strokes for different things, etc.

True, and they can recommend things too, we're all in agreement

The unprompted recommendation is condescending and carries a holier than you attitude.

It's coming from a place of objecting to burnout/overwork culture.

Recently I witnessed a CTO mention in a public channel that with Claude remote control people can now work while getting a coffee or other breaks during the day.

Tech is actively moving in a direction of destroying all the gains from the labour movement in service of enriching capital out of a combination of FOMO or fear of being replaced.

So yeah, when folks say "hey look now I can even work during leisure activities!" yeah, the reaction is negative.

I'm far more surprised that this surprises you.

I hear you, though I will point out that OP said “projects”. Could be a house remodel, ebike build, any manner of project.

Sure but context matters and given this is Hacker News, a lot of discussion centers around tech as a profession (and that's doubly true for AI adoption). You can forgive folks for jumping to natural conclusions. :D

Nah.

Workers in 2026, even non-tech workers have an easier life than workers alive at any other point in human history.

Yes ofc there are problems - collectivist land use laws that ban construction near homeowners continue to drive housing costs higher for example. But if you asked any worker today if they would have preferred to be alive 40 or 400 years ago I would be shocked if any said yes.

So I'm clear: as long as our jobs don't devolve to 100 hours a week in a sweat shop or tilling the earth for the lord of our fiefdom, we should just sit back and be happy?

Is that what I should take away from your comment?

I don't have a strong opinion either way but it seems unlikely that this was the takeaway

That's a pretty wild take. There used to be a lot of good paying union jobs. It was much better to be a worker before Reaganism/Thatcherism.

It’s funny. I was looking at my GH activity graph. It’s been pretty solid green, for years. I stay busy.

But since I’ve been using an LLM, it’s been bright green.

I always check in code manually. I don’t let the LLM do it.

>It's coming from a place of objecting to burnout/overwork culture.

Sure, but that's not everyone. I want this because it's hard to carve out time for my fun side projects. :)

Also, not everyone feels burnt out or overworked, and may find their actual work enjoyable. I've definitely had many showers where I've been thinking about interesting work problems and never felt particularly burdened by it (quite the opposite, in fact).

It reminds me of that old parable where the acolyte asks the priest "Father, can I smoke while I pray?" and gets told "No, you should be focusing on praying. That wouldn't be respectful". But then he says "Can I pray while I smoke?" and gets told "of course, you can pray at any time".

If it's 'walking time', I probably don't want to consume that with work. But if it's 'working time', it could be great to have a nice walk during it.

I highly recommend not patronizing adults for doing what they want or feel is appropriate when they're walking their dog.

Sometimes I want to learn something while I walk. Sometimes I want to listen to stories. Sometimes I want to just be present. All are good. I highly recommend letting people enjoy whatever they enjoy.

I often enjoy walking and doing something else at the same time. Usually thinking through a problem…

Given the personality type common on HN, I imagine that the GP, even if unplugged from all technology on their walk, wouldn't be in a mindful state of enjoying their surroundings, but rather would be "lost in the clouds", stewing on the same ideas/thoughts/problems; but with those thoughts going more in circles, due to a lack of ability to verify anything.

Literally me. Everyone is different, and that's fine. But I don't have the privilege of living in an area where I can talk to people about the things I am thinking through. It's very rural. Having a _utility_ that can act as a sounding board while I spew out my thoughts on a walk is a really meaningful improvement to my current situation.

… but it sounds like they did enjoy the walk, doesn’t it?

I take my dog for walks everyday and I think she 100% of the times enjoys it but me maybe only 20-30%

One thing has remained constant over the last little period of time. AI boosters have zero taste.

I never considered that how I spend my time while walking my dog might be a matter of "taste".

Perhaps that's the definition of taste (or lack of).

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