Paul Buchheit: Is there more to life than money?

http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2007/12/is-there-more-to-life-than-money.html

by karthikv • 19 years ago

54 54 19 years ago

paulbuchheit.blogspot.com

imsteve2• 19 years ago

Is there more to life than money?

Yes

Is money still a really awesome thing?

Yes

rms3• 19 years ago

Amen to that. Money means freedom.

Alex39172• 19 years ago

The problem with freedom is that most people aren't very good at optimizing their own happiness. At least when you're stuck in an institution there is some base level of engineered happiness as a by-product of that institution's need to fulfill its stated goals. Otherwise, freedom may start with travel and book-writing, but it has this habit of quickly devolving into sitting around reading Reddit and Slashdot. In other words, in their state of nature people have this tendency of doing just enough to make themselves minimally happy, even if greater happiness is ultimately attainable. Look how many people sit around all day playing World of Warcraft.

I guess what I'm saying is that even if you need freedom to achieve maximum happiness, complete freedom also leaves you with a much greater chance of getting stuck in some minimal existence. Which basically describes about a quarter the population of Japan.

anupamkapoor• 19 years ago

i remember reading this from "of human bondage" (slightly paraphrased) "money is like a 6th sense, without which you cannot make use of the other 5"

paul4• 19 years ago

Money is nice, that is true, but freedom comes from the inside. Many rich people are still slaves.

Also, more money doesn't always mean more freedom. Most people simply dig in deeper when they get a little more money. They buy a bigger house with a bigger mortgage, fancy cars, and other expensive junk. Then they're really hooked.

breily3• 19 years ago

Its a lot easier to ask that question when you have millions in Google stock.

tx• 19 years ago

That's not how wealth perception works. Wealth is a relative substance. We compare ourselves to our peers to construct an image of our own success.

When I just moved to US I made less than 30K in my first year and I did not feel poor. In fact I made more that year that both of my parents combined. I also remember seeing a happy family at a parking lot near Lincoln Park in Chicago. They did not speak any English and they were all posing in front of a brand-new, shining red Toyota Corolla, laughing and taking pictures. It was probably their first brand-new car, very possibly an unthinkable achievement among their friends and relatives left in whatever country they were from. I am sure they felt richer at that moment than Paul does now.

I would like to re-phrase Paul's though, assuming I got it right. To westerners, who are already born rich by most standards, money most likely mean the freedom of doing whatever they feel like doing. PG mentioned it in his essays as the only driving factor behind programmers trying to make money - to set themselves free to work on problems they enjoy.

Thing is, you don't have to be rich to work on something that makes your life exciting. Joining a startup that fits your needs is another way of not wasting 2/3rds of your life while @work.

My personal pet theory is that most people, given appropriate education and development, are pre-programmed to work on something they love. This is precisely why so many Hollywood style millionaires like rock and movie stars end up dependent on drugs facing alcohol problems, etc. They never had any creative nuclei in them and had been working simply to put food on the table. And when they end up with more food that they can swallow, they literally go nuts: wealth can be dangerous, even life-threatening to unprepared.

mrtron• 19 years ago

I disagree.

Having millions is different than living on a 30k income vs a 60k income.

Someone like him is in a position to do whatever he wants for a few years without worrying about rent, food, or any basic needs.

paul4• 19 years ago

Money is nice to have -- did I say otherwise? Or are you arguing that there ISN'T more to life than money?

breily3• 19 years ago

I guess I'm not disagreeing with you, just pointing out that when you don't have money, its much more difficult (maybe near impossible for some people) to find out/concentrate on what else you want out of life. Whereas if money is not an issue, you can spend everyday doing what makes you happy.

aswanson2• 19 years ago

I don't know man. I'm just circling a huge fusion reaction 93 million miles away at 66,000 miles per hour like everybody else I know.

whacked_new• 19 years ago

This comment made my day.

aswanson2• 19 years ago

Cool.

michaelneale4• 19 years ago

Heh - lucky you. I am orbiting a supermassive black hole (at least I think that is what it is) 8.5 kilo-parsecs away. At least the fusion reaction is nice and warm.

jadams• 19 years ago

"Love your work" is often just a way for startups and other small companies to extract unreasonable hours from you, with little payback.

I've done the startup thing. I've worked 9-5 er I mean 9-6, oh, wait it was more like 10-7:30. In the end, any job will require you to put up with things you don't like. Obviously, some jobs are a better fit than others.

I find the startup smugness naive.

npk• 19 years ago

There is a psuedo-empircal monetary value to enjoying life. Consider a thought experiment where you plot "free time" or "enjoyable time" versus "salary." Now consider a job where your enjoyable time is ~ 0, coal miner 100 hours/week, for example. How much would you need to be paid? Now maximize the other dimension, how much salary do you need to live, but have a rewarding and stimulating job?

For me, the numbers are like, $1M a year and $50K a year. This means that if I manage to maximize my enjoyment axis, I'm an enjoyment millionare. My personal goal in life is to be on the manifold that connects those two points.

timr• 19 years ago

There's something to be said for the Buddhist take on happiness: life is suffering, but suffering is ultimately the result of craving and desire.

(Of course, that blows a bit of a hole in the "be an entrepreneur to get rich" mindset, but I still think there's something to it.)

ntoshev3• 19 years ago

Thank you for reminding this. I don't live according to or even agree with the Buddhist way of thinking, but I do respect it as one of the ways to be truly happy.

rokhayakebe• 19 years ago

I am certainly not a millionaire, but I have a few friends who are and judging from the way they are, I can guarantee you that anyone who says " there is more to life than money" is telling you 95% bullshit. That is unless you live somewhere Capitalism is not KING.

damon• 19 years ago

Matthew 6:24 - You cannot serve both God and Money

daniel-cussen• 19 years ago

And many hackers are atheist.

boucher• 19 years ago

Many are not. In fact, statistics would suggest most, by far, even if you're willing to believe (which i have seen nothing to backup) that "hackers" are more likely.

rms3• 19 years ago

The Catholic Church seems to do alright.

cellis• 19 years ago

This reminds me of a thread I read on nuclearphynance http://nuclearphynance.com/Show%20Post.aspx?PostIDKey=12757

Wherein a slew of highly paid quantitative finance dudes argue about the optimal amount of money (to quit). I think most settled on about $10m/L5m.

icky• 19 years ago

Yes, but it's certainly a limiting factor.

dawie• 19 years ago

Money can't buy happyness, but happyness does not buy food, houses, vacations or a porsche

Paul Buchheit: Is there more to life than money?

Related Stories