[ExI] Life @ Playstation

[Anders Sandberg]

On 19/11/2012 07:47, ddraig wrote:
> On 6 November 2012 02:46, spike <spike66 at att.net 
> <mailto:spike66 at att.net>> wrote:
>
>     yeah, I've heard this my entire life:  "if you're so smart, why
>     aren't you rich?"   Well, because it's boring, and the sort of
>     people you meet along the way tend to be horrible, that's why.
>
>     Dwayne, eventually I thought of a good retort to that question, If
>     you're so smart, why ain't ya rich:  If YOU'RE so smart, how do
>     you know I ain't rich?
>
>
> Oh, no, my answer has always been: define rich.  I have spent most of 
> my adult life doing exactly what I wanted, every day, without having 
> to worry about food and survival, with the freedom to spend my time 
> however I wish.  This is the end-result of being rich throughout 
> history, as far as I can tell.

Exactly. A bit like the parable about the fisherman and the banker, 
where the banker sketches out how the fisherman can build up his 
business so that he would become independently wealthy and spend his 
time as he wants... fishing and being with his family, which was what he 
is already doing.

I was interviewed by people from 80 Thousand Hours today ( 
http://80000hours.org/ ). This is an organisation that tries to figure 
out how to make one's career have maximum impact; a little 
evidence-based planning before choosing it can make a huge difference. 
The interesting aspect of their thinking is that high-impact careers can 
both be relatively low-money careers where you do something very useful 
(like life extension research, reducing xrisk) and high-money careers 
where you give the money to the right things. The neat thing is that if 
you plan things right, you will find your life to be quite meaningful 
regardless of the amount of money in your wallet at the end of the month.



-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University

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