To this day, when I read or think about a solar eclipse, I have a visual image of floppies! My first instinct seeing this on HN was “is this because there is a solar eclipse tomorrow?”

I am not really trying to get to anything except to have fun thinking about how society would organise itself. And since this is not an exam, everyone's free to think through different versions and enjoy the question as they like.

As for me, normally it comes up in a discussion and we develop and make assumptions as we go, but I've prefer to change as little as possible e.g. buildings/infrastructure do disappear but people "land" gently. And then most of what you said would be true: people in inappropriate climates, far away from a source of water or food die. I don't think it makes the thought experiment any less interesting to think about. In fact, the reason I like it is because progress may become so slow that some generations later we'd start believing or question in mythical iPhones and technologies.

Imagine everything man-made suddenly disappears but not the knowledge individuals carry. How long until we have an iPhone (or a plastic shirt button)? Would it even be any faster than the first time around?

I kind of agree with the previous comment. I think if you spend a lot of time on the phone, have a lot of apps then it makes sense to upgrade your phone more frequently and also makes sense to have a larger screen and better battery life. So conversely, there is a correlation between people who have smaller phones and upgrade less frequently.

I have my iPhone 12mini for 5-6 years now, and I'd upgrade it now if there was a new small iPhone. But I would upgrade it 3 years ago.

When I asked about him, he mentioned he’s Irish but moved on to tell me about his plans. How he was saving to have a farm, planned what to grow, animals - 15m of quite precise description. His story was his future.

This was striking for me - when asked most people tell you about their past, where they’re coming from. It was the first time I realised that where we’re going should be a bigger part of our story and identity.

I try to keep that conversation in mind as a lesson, and as a reminder to talk to people around.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Issue

When I asked about him, he mentioned he’s Irish but moved on to tell me about his plans. How he was saving to have a farm, planned what to grow, animals - 15m of quite precise description. His story was his future.

This was striking for me - when asked most people tell you about their past, where they’re coming from. It was the first time I realised that where we’re going should be a bigger part of our story and identity.

I try to keep that conversation in mind.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Issue

Given the mood in the thread, I do indeed think that I may have a high tolerance for such practices and pay careful attention to fine prints. After all, I had all the training while applying for numerous Schengen and other visas, immigration paperwork. After those, dealing with Ryanair that faces at least some competition and scrutiny is not that bad.

And I am also always confused about the non-transparency that people mention about their fees. When you do the checkout, you select the services you want and pay for those. There used to be a time when other airlines would have a lot of things included in the basic ticket price, but that's not the case anymore, so it's not different. And I think this was an inevitable in an industry with small profit margins where price differentiation would bring gains.

(Great username, btw, SirHumphrey)

I was looking at robot vacuums, and most need internet connection at least for setup - by which point it’s already uploaded your floor plan and who knows what to the cloud.

I would add that there is something in it for all ages. I have read it many times, between ages 6 and 25 and in different languages. The later readings were for language learning without any expectations but each time I finished it, I was deeply touched.

With that it’s also a great one to read with kids.

Then I realized that I spend more time about thinking about how to organize my notes than actually taking the notes, or even more importantly focus on the content.

That was a freeing realization that got me unblocked. Now I do not have a "system". My thoughts go wherever is most convenient at that moment, I have papers lying around, docs, Apple notes. If they turn out to be important, they'll naturally become structured.

That being said, whenever I see some tool like this, I still have a passing thought - ah, that's a great system I should have it, it will enable me to be more productive :)

But these days (for now) finding another restaurant is easy. The author mentions that his gym requires having a smartphone. Now, that's a much bigger problem.

Since it's always in my pocket, I see it spontaneously during the day, and as a result, I manage to focus on it more. Have tried apps, but the fact I had to click the app would make me easily forget it, and get distracted on other things on the phone.

I look at it every evening and write the one for the next day, and have the last few lying around near my bed. As one of the other comments mentioned, this ritual may be more important than the medium but I find keeping a ritual with paper has been easier.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44804320

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