Hacker News: a3voices

New comment by a3voices in "How to minimize procrastination"

a3voices — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 22:47:43 +0000

The way I solved my procrastination problems is that I do at least one thing per day towards my goal. More often than not, this puts me in a mental state that leads me to doing many things. I find that simply starting a task is the most difficult step.

New comment by a3voices in "The world is entering a third stage of a rolling debt crisis"

a3voices — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 17:41:00 +0000

Well, there's some situations where it is so obvious to use debt that you don't need a cost/benefit analysis.

For example, let's say you discover a large deposit of gold on land you own. You could use debt to buy the mining equipment to mine the gold.

Another example is if terrorists demolished all the bridges between Manhattan and Brooklyn. The government doesn't need a cost/benefit analysis to decide to use debt to rebuild some bridges.

New comment by a3voices in "Mac Store Apps Stopped Working Due to Expired Security Certificate"

a3voices — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 17:31:20 +0000

As anyone who's released an app knows, the real problem is Apple's excessively bureaucratic certificate and provisioning processes.

New comment by a3voices in "The world is entering a third stage of a rolling debt crisis"

a3voices — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 17:15:27 +0000

That's true if the capital is misallocated. Spending and debt can greatly increase a country's well-being if used effectively.

New comment by a3voices in "I paid this company 30$ to break up with my girlfriend"

a3voices — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 15:41:52 +0000

Misleading title. He didn't actually break up with his girlfiend, he just wanted to test the service.

New comment by a3voices in "Study: Staying off Facebook can make you happier"

a3voices — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 04:38:49 +0000

Thanks, just did this! Great solution.

New comment by a3voices in "Things that aren't progress"

a3voices — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 22:14:07 +0000

Maybe progress is anything that increases your revenue.

US Labor Force Participation Rate

a3voices — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 20:29:31 +0000

Article URL: http://www.multpl.com/us-labor-force-participation-rate

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10549063

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Effective Altruism Complaints

a3voices — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 15:18:52 +0000

Article URL: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2015/07/effective-altruism-complaints.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10547037

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by a3voices in "JB-9 jetpack makes debut flying around Statue of Liberty"

a3voices — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 21:50:00 +0000

I wish I could have someone with a remote control fly me to work every day with one of these.

New comment by a3voices in "An open letter on side projects"

a3voices — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 19:31:27 +0000

There is not a moral obligation to maintain side projects. If the users want the maintenance so badly, they can pay you large amounts of money for it.

New comment by a3voices in "Africans are mainly rich or poor, but not middle class"

a3voices — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 04:27:41 +0000

So your position is that 18th century intellectuals didn't have an accurate perspective of 18th century Africa?

New comment by a3voices in "Africans are mainly rich or poor, but not middle class"

a3voices — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 22:40:32 +0000

And what do you think the adult literacy rate was in Africa before the Europeans arrived? It most likely started with 0.00....%

New comment by a3voices in "Africans are mainly rich or poor, but not middle class"

a3voices — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 22:08:58 +0000

Really? "The literacy rate in England in the 1640s was around 30 percent for males, rising to 60 percent in the mid-18th century." - Wikipedia

New comment by a3voices in "Africans are mainly rich or poor, but not middle class"

a3voices — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 22:00:42 +0000

And who would teach them? If a society lives in extreme poverty for all of history, with zero economic and technological growth, what would make them become more developed and educated without external influences?

“That one can survey the length and breadth of sub-Sahara Africa and find not even one work of visual or written art worthy of the name” - David Hume, 18th century historian

New comment by a3voices in "Africans are mainly rich or poor, but not middle class"

a3voices — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 21:41:34 +0000

Yes, much closer to one. Somewhere on a scale between what it currently is and a prehistoric society. Why do you think it wouldn't be? Africans wouldn't just magically absorb Western culture without exposure. I'm not sure if 1% were even aware of Western civilization, trade, and such until colonization happened. Do you think Africans would learn how to read and write if the Europeans didn't alter things?

New comment by a3voices in "Africans are mainly rich or poor, but not middle class"

a3voices — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 21:37:02 +0000

So you're saying Africa would've been better off without colonization? I bet life would be much worse in Africa if it was never colonized. Did you know the homicide rate was 10-20% in prehistoric societies, and the life expectancy was only 30-40 years or so?

New comment by a3voices in "I apparently got 50% better at my job last month"

a3voices — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 18:33:42 +0000

Well one important financial reason is that the more hours you work, the less money you make per hour, unless you have a huge equity stake. So your effective wage actually decreases if you spend more time at work.

Other reasons are work/life balance, enjoying time to relax, spending time with friends or family, mental health reasons, and things like that.

New comment by a3voices in "I apparently got 50% better at my job last month"

a3voices — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 17:58:13 +0000

Why would he want to work 286 hours per month? I hope he's making a million dollars a year.

New comment by a3voices in "The Case Against the Universal Basic Income"

a3voices — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 03:22:54 +0000

That's inaccurate. It's actually caused by an increase in median wages and number of people employed. Wage growth is affected by money supply growth.