temp129838

Some, but right almost certainly a lot less than in previously generations...

If one partner made enough to support the whole family and you had kids, then I imagine there are some families who would want a full-time parent caring for their kids vs relying on daycare/parents/nanny.

You either do not live in the Bay Area or you are wildly misinformed. The Bay Area's housing crisis is caused by a mix of bad zoning laws and rampant NIMBYism that has blocked enough housing construction to keep up with population growth. It has nothing to do with overpopulation.

If you have an average tech job and you are single/partnered (w/ dual income) with no kids, you are probably relatively fine as far as affordability goes.

If you have kids or living on a single income for 2 people, then it gets harder because presumably you'll want to find a more permanent living situation than renting a bedroom in a larger home with roommates or a small studio/1 bedroom.

My guess is that the existential crisis/breaking point happens for those in transition periods in their lives, the most notable those in their 20s/30s who have recently gotten married and thinking of having their first kid. At that point, if you haven't been fortunate enough to make enough to afford at least a small 2 bedroom in a good school area for $1.5m-$2m + school + daycare it isn't going to very sustainable to keep living here. Plus, many people want help from their parents to help raise their kids while they continue working, and unless you're in a situation where your parents are already living here that would be difficult to accommodate as well.

I continue to be amazed that Pinterest is still a thing.

Avatars. The main benefit over videoconferencing today would be meetings for remote collaboration e.g. hard to do remote "brainstorm together on a white board" type meetings remotely.

One of the first mainstream, non-gaming applications for VR has got to be meetings.

I don't think their value is in having a "moat", per se. It's just that despite the plethora of options most still suck for whatever reason and based on experience they seem to provide a better experience than google, cisco, blue jeans, etc.

If you live in the US, we are living just past the golden age of credit cards rewards...I've not paid for a personal trip (flight or hotel) for maybe 6 years and travel a lot.

We live in a time where international air travel has become ridiculously cheap relative to domestic travel. I regularly see roundtrip flights between SFO and Singapore/HK for ~$600 and RT flights between US and Europe for ~$400 or so, but expect to pay at least $650 to go between SF<>NY and even $350 just to go between SF and LA sometimes.

Point is, it's never been cheaper to travel internationally. Enjoy it while it's still true.

Nah. If you believe in crypto, just use the money to buy BTC or something else.

The only other situation where I think it could make sense is if you plan to write it off to offset capital gains elsewhere.

Agreed. You can have good trips and bad trips. It is highly dependent on environment and state of mind.

The only guarantee is that your ability to change increases due to increased neuroplasticity. Whether the change is good or bad is ultimately up to you, which is why I think if these drugs were to be legalized that the intake should happen in conjunction with in-person therapy in a controlled environment and not at all something you'd just pickup at a pharmacy and take on your own like anti-depressants are today.

It's the racket of big pharma. Ketamine isn't approved for the treatment of depression but Johnson & Johnson's patented Esketamine is. If you want to go the legal route that is your only option.

Depending on how much your insurance plan covers you, as a patient, might only pay a fixed copay with your insurance covering the rest, so you might not actually "feel" the $7k price tag at all.

The real scam that has played out over the last few decades though is that as employer insurance costs rise wage growth has slowed. We've all been paying for rising insurance costs even if we don't necessarily feel it.

Changing yourself due to increased neuroplasticity is a feature, not a bug. That isn't the same thing as "overdosing."

Look at Ketamine...just make some trivial change with no impact to the active part of the chemical and you can patent it.

From my experience, especially with psilocybin (shrooms), the main benefit is not hallocinogenic at all (at a ~2g or so dose) but that it has the effect of basically forcing you to confront all the emotional pain that you bury and ignore. I always end up laugh-crying and experiencing revelations about myself, my relationship etc that I simply don't have otherwise. I can see how effective it can be when taken while in therapy because you basically force yourself to open up. It's a truth serum, of sorts.

I have not tried DMT but my understanding of ayahuasca (active ingredient is DMT) retreats in places like Peru is that it's like "10 years of therapy in a week."