Ask HN: Which are the things you want the most?
Just a question, in order to know which are the things that are valuable to us. Also... which are the things you don't want, but have to do in order to get those what you want?
Unwanted: Excess red tape. Non-deterministic bugs. Win32. IE. Reality TV. Murphy's law.
I want things that do what I want them to do. For four years that meant the Mac I have now. Now that I've got it, I'll be content for years and years.
I want stuff that changes how I look at the world. That means music, books, movies, but all stuff that changes me as I consume it.
I want people who are able to tolerate me and who I in turn can tolerate because we have similar values and standards.
I want out of my life the things that don't matter to me. Right now that means a lot of my classwork in college, which is the stuff that's teaching me the least. In the future... who knows? There'll probably always be something. Hopefully there will be less every year of my life.
Money.
Not so much to spend it on stuff, but rather the freedom that money buys in today's society.
(I think I'm being stupidly obvious right now, so I'll apologize: I thought the OP was referring to the social impact that people knowing you've got money has, and I don't think that's actually what he meant.
It isn't. Stuff makes things possible.
Not so much to spend it on stuff, but rather the freedom that money buys in today's society.
And I was arguing that the freedom money buys is the freedom to spend money on stuff.
Everything else comes from that.
(You could be including happiness in healthiness.)
Want: Artificial Intelligence, Seamless integration between tech and humans, Technological innovation, Good health, Time, Love, Friends, Good books, Good movies
Do Not Want: Death, Extremists, Bad movies, Bad friends, Bad books
Just about every problem I have right now (and for the foreseeable future) can be solved by the judicious application of money. Health can be improved by money, but not guaranteed by it.
Love and friends are also important, but I already have that.
If you do not like advertisements, develop a better system that gives companies a good incentive for offering products and services to consumers AT NO COST.
Striving for it by: Friendship, Family, Health, Savings, Entertainment
do not want : development (but that's the only thing I feel good at :( ), redtape, trying to sell stuff, trying to sell myself.
Coffee and/or coca cola. Boyfriend. Any book by Richard Dawkins, Dan Dennett, Sue Blackmore, Peter Atkins, Stephen Hawking. Any psychological horror film like 'Session 9' or 'In the Mouth of Madness'. Formerly camels, now e-cigs for nicotine. CNN. C. Cygwin. Textpad.
Things-to-be-endured:
Diet coke. Boyfriend's spending habits. Any book positing emergent, or anti-reductionist views of any sort. Mindless slashers like 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. Nicotine gum that doesn't do squat. Fox News. Java. DOS prompt. Ultra-edit.