
Ask HN: What would you do if you didn't need money to live? - atroyn
I like to think I&#x27;d do pretty much what I&#x27;m doing now: learning and building. But I&#x27;d love to hear about other perspectives!
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Mz
_...people ask these questions and tend to assume that all answers are
supposed to be about some personal passion for making the world a better
place. The assumption is that no one is going to honestly answer "Are you
kidding? If I didn't have to work for a living, I would just play video games
all fucking day."_

[http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/10/ancient-
wisd...](http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2016/10/ancient-wisdom-tells-
us-idle-hands-are.html)

~~~
BjoernKW
For most of the HN audience I suppose playing video games all day, every day
would get boring pretty quickly.

Even that prostitutes and cocaine part might be not be so enticing anymore if
you have those every day. Additionally, keeping up a healthy cocaine habit
isn't, well, very healthy in the long run. Then again, living a long and
healthy life might not exactly be your top priority in that case ...

Idle hands being the devil's workshop is a decidedly Puritan notion. I
wouldn't be too surprised if the proverb actually came from Puritan origin. It
can be interpreted in a way that work has value in itself even if it's
entirely unproductive. I don't think it's a healthy approach to either life or
business. I also don't think that humans who wouldn't have to work anymore to
make a living would instinctively default to doing nothing and simply wasting
their life on unproductive activities. Self-actualisation and creating
something that has some sort of value is an important, perhaps even essential
need once everything else is provided for.

~~~
hluska
_Even that prostitutes and cocaine part might be not be so enticing anymore if
you have those every day. Additionally, keeping up a healthy cocaine habit isn
't, well, very healthy in the long run. Then again, living a long and healthy
life might not exactly be your top priority in that case ..._

This is one of the funnier paragraphs that I have ever read. You have a great
voice for satire!

~~~
owebmaster
> This is one of the funnier paragraphs that I have ever read. You have a
> great voice for satire!

You are very good with satires too! Or perhaps this is a clash of generations?
your quote doesn't look like satire to me.

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akulbe
Four things:

1\. Spend more time with my family.

2\. Work on getting more healthy.

3\. Help folks coming out of incarceration learn how to get on their feet, and
thrive.

4\. Study foreign languages.

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johncoltrane
Nothing useful or kind for me or for others. I would almost certainly go back
to writing my name on trains, like in my 20s.

~~~
atroyn
What's your secret graffiti name?

~~~
johncoltrane
Well it's a secret :-)

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bsvalley
I'd travel for the most part as I get satisfaction from discovering different
cultures and new parts of the world.

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BjoernKW
The past few years I've deliberately tried to design the way I work in a way I
like what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. I could still do better but I'm
quite happy with my progress so far.

Therefore it wouldn't change all that much in that case. I'd still be
teaching, creating products and solving problems.

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webtechgal
> learning and building.

This. And also, continuing to earn and giving it away to the needy.

~~~
atroyn
Who would you give to, out of interest?

~~~
webtechgal
Well, I live in India. :-)

~~~
kirubakaran
Offtopic: The website listed in your profile seems to be down
[http://sideprojects.tk/](http://sideprojects.tk/)

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SirLJ
Right now now I'll do exactly the same - I work from home technical lead in
security/sysadmin space for a big telco, (also have a side project generating
more money than my salary and growing). The main reason I won't quit my job is
the team I am managing and the kids are still at home... in few years when
they move out, I am thinking about buying a million dollar sailboat and travel
the world for a decade or so and chose a please to "retire" to...

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bananicorn
Honestly, I'd be making videogames. No time pressure, no pressure to get
anything done, just making them, maybe polishing them as well if I feel like
it :) Maybe go on a hike with nothing but the stuff I need to survive, and
pencil and paper. Then repeat it with my girlfriend and her dog. And move to
the seaside somewhere warm - I can't stand the winter. Be an old man, I
guess^^

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Raed667
Travel and live every couple of months in a different city.

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owebmaster
I'd develop some apps

