Entirely practical yet utterly ridiculous dreams [Archive]

Anarion

2014-11-19, 12:35 PM

- Build my own awesome minigolf course.
- Have my own hedge maze.

These are together, right? Please tell me they're together.

I dunno if I have any really ridiculous dreams. I'd like to argue a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court at some point in my life, which I guess is aiming high, but that tends to be a matter more of luck and circumstance than professional success as a lawyer (you'll get everything from high-paid specialists to random local public defenders, depending on which cases the Court decides to take).

At some point, if I had enough money, I think it would be interesting to get all my Internet friends from all the different places I frequent and fly them all out somewhere to get together for a weekend gaming retreat or something of that sort. It would probably be horrifically awkward, but fun. :smallbiggrin:

Jeff the Green

2014-11-19, 10:30 PM

These are together, right? Please tell me they're together.

I dunno if I have any really ridiculous dreams. I'd like to argue a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court at some point in my life, which I guess is aiming high, but that tends to be a matter more of luck and circumstance than professional success as a lawyer (you'll get everything from high-paid specialists to random local public defenders, depending on which cases the Court decides to take).

At some point, if I had enough money, I think it would be interesting to get all my Internet friends from all the different places I frequent and fly them all out somewhere to get together for a weekend gaming retreat or something of that sort. It would probably be horrifically awkward, but fun. :smallbiggrin:

Nah, that's pretty normal. What'd be ridiculous is wanting to be the first ICC prosecutor to call a dolphin as a witness, which is what I only sort of jokingly described as my career goal in high school.

SiuiS

2014-11-19, 11:13 PM

It would probably be horrifically awkward,

Yes. Yes it would. Definitely fun though!

I always wanted to build a wizard's tower. Four stories, brick facade, thematic interior. Also, a hobbit hole, a dungeon (in the D&D sense, although...) and hopefully have them all on the same property.

My much more attainable goal would be to build a shrine-like building for practicing martial arts in. The weird part? Removing my identity to train my offspring without it affecting the parent-child dynamic. Sort of a Roshi/Jacki chun thing. That's not likely to happen though because when I explained it once I had a friend out Child Protective Services on speed dial, and no matter how safe anything of the sort would be it's going to be the devil to explain safely.

Gnome Alone

2014-11-19, 11:43 PM

Yes. Yes it would. Definitely fun though!

I always wanted to build a wizard's tower. Four stories, brick facade, thematic interior. Also, a hobbit hole, a dungeon (in the D&D sense, although...) and hopefully have them all on the same property.

Okay, I'm gonna be thinking of you as the coolest person ever for at least a week now, hope that's okay.

I thought this thread was gonna be about stuff like that infuriating phenomenon of dreaming about having to get up and get ready to go to work, then waking up and having to get ready and go to work.

And on the subject, sort of, of the actual topic: ever since Fallout New Vegas came out I have kind of really wanted to make a Followers of the Apocalypse labcoat and wear it just everywhere, yea though it marketh me as a dorkazoid most true.

Winter_Wolf

2014-11-20, 02:14 AM

My ridiculous dream is moving to the desert*. Not middle of nowhere by myself, but some arid community with a lot of heat (barring those cold desert nights). 'Course, I love the Pacific Northwest way too much to ever forsake all that lovely green, but considering that where I am now (which is neither desert nor anywhere near the Pacific), it's gonna be a long, miserable, snowy winter, I'd be just happy happy happy to move to a hot desert.

*Like American Southwest, not like above the arctic circle.

Serpentine

2014-11-20, 02:21 AM

These are together, right? Please tell me they're together.It wasn't, but now you mention it...

RabbitHoleLost

2014-11-20, 02:31 AM

I want a small farm with a handful of barnyard animals (most of all including a cow named Milkshake) and a small vegetable garden

Boyfriend and I have discussed it.
It's unlikely buuuuut that doesn't make me want it any less, even though I have no experience with that sort of thing

Brother Oni

2014-11-20, 02:43 AM

Be debt free by the time I retire.

SiuiS

2014-11-20, 02:47 AM

Ah, Onisan. Just look into getting a tiny house, being a prepper and live off the grid!

What's quality of life compared to monetary bragging rights?

SowZ

2014-11-20, 03:26 AM

Yes. Yes it would. Definitely fun though!

I always wanted to build a wizard's tower. Four stories, brick facade, thematic interior. Also, a hobbit hole, a dungeon (in the D&D sense, although...) and hopefully have them all on the same property.

My much more attainable goal would be to build a shrine-like building for practicing martial arts in. The weird part? Removing my identity to train my offspring without it affecting the parent-child dynamic. Sort of a Roshi/Jacki chun thing. That's not likely to happen though because when I explained it once I had a friend out Child Protective Services on speed dial, and no matter how safe anything of the sort would be it's going to be the devil to explain safely.

LARPers would pester you all the time, haha.

Lheticus

2014-11-20, 12:16 PM

Move to England and spend the rest of my life with my online boyfriend.
I wonder how many minds this blew?

Serpentine

2014-11-20, 12:26 PM

? Why would it blow any minds? If you mean cuz you're talking about a boyfriend and that according to your gender icon you're also a boy, well... We have two LGBT threads running right here in this subforum. Maybe you'd be interested in checking them out?

Brother Oni

2014-11-20, 12:51 PM

Ah, Onisan. Just look into getting a tiny house, being a prepper and live off the grid!

What's quality of life compared to monetary bragging rights?

Except that being debt free would enable me to spend more on improving my quality of life, or more likely, let me maintain my current quality of life on my pension.

Lheticus

2014-11-20, 01:36 PM

Bulldog Psion

2014-11-20, 07:12 PM

SiuiS

2014-11-20, 08:02 PM

Okay, I'm gonna be thinking of you as the coolest person ever for at least a week now, hope that's okay.

Sure! I can always use preening~!

I thought this thread was gonna be about stuff like that infuriating phenomenon of dreaming about having to get up and get ready to go to work, then waking up and having to get ready and go to work.

Ugh. I hate those. And the stereotypical like, "you're at highschool but NAKED!" Or barefoot or in your undies or something. It's interesting because I have those dreams but I don't really care? I think I just picked them up from the group consciousness.

LARPers would pester you all the time, haha.

That's cool, if I had good land I would run my own. Did Amtgard for a while but the group was a bit too set in their ways and too juvenile, and I want more role playing and less stick combat. Not that stick combat is bad mind, but I can get beat up with sticks without driving out of town and wearing heavy clothes.

Except that being debt free would enable me to spend more on improving my quality of life, or more likely, let me maintain my current quality of life on my pension.

But if you get debt free by reducing your quality of life and then increase your quality of life with the savings, aren't you in debt again?

Or is this a plateau benchmark thing, like buying in bulk? It's only more economical if A) you will use it all before expiry and B) you can afford the bulk and not have to buy individual packaging?

None of my dreams are particularly interesting, and if I detail them, I'm probably going to end up sounding bitter.

Well, actually, here's one that is actually a real dream of mine, but is weird enough to be fun and entertaining (I hope) :smallwink::

Winning enough in a lottery so that I can help fund the genetic resurrection of the Passenger Pigeon, if that project proves to be possible. (Woolly mammoth is my real dream, of course, but I'm not sure if the tech exists for that ... yet.)

(Double edit: please no "cloning of mammoth -- is it morally justified?" debates, I don't want to be the cause of any moderation problems in this thread with my silly, geeky, very sincere dream of restoring a few extinct species.)

That's pretty cool actually.

If I win the lottery in giving everyone I know and care about two million. And if they ever ask me for money again I'll slap them. Two million is a 20,000 dollar salary from interest every year! You were set for life! How did you mess that up?!

I would of course retain a quantity for myself with which to adventure.

Winter_Wolf

2014-11-20, 08:40 PM

But if you get debt free by reducing your quality of life and then increase your quality of life with the savings, aren't you in debt again?

Having been on both sides of debt, I can vouch that it's entirely possible to cut back to get out of debt, then start increasing quality of life and still remain debt free. But there's increasing quality of life, then there's going bananas because of some need to "make up for" depriving yourself. That said, two places I'll never cut back on are durable goods and quality food. I might not do much going out for food or movies or whatnot entertainment, but things which need to (and do) last or be actually nutritious demand a higher price for a reason. 'Course once in a while you get an unusually good deal, and once in a while you find out someone is charging way too much for an inferior product, but it's mitigated by informed decision making.

Because compound interest almost never works in your favor (interest on savings, say), but nearly always against you (just check out most loan/credit rates and terms).

noparlpf

2014-11-20, 08:43 PM

Be debt free by the time I retire.

Hahahaha haha ha *sobs* *sobs a lot* *drowns in tears*

I'm looking at $200-300k for vet school. I don't foresee being debt-free ever and I'm not even old enough to drink yet. ;-;

Aedilred

2014-11-20, 08:44 PM

If I win the lottery in giving everyone I know and care about two million. And if they ever ask me for money again I'll slap them. Two million is a 20,000 dollar salary from interest every year! You were set for life! How did you mess that up?!

As soon as you make any purchases or investments out of that figure, though, it eats into the capital (thus reducing interest) and also ties up funds. Unless they just plonk two mil in a savings account and try to live off that, which is probably one of the worst ways to manage the money, they're never going to have that cash available in one hit. They'd certainly end up asset-rich but not necessarily cash-rich. And $20K/year isn't exactly a fortune if it's your only source of income (which it hopefully shouldn't be).

Also, people who aren't used to having money often don't know how to manage it when they do. That's one of the reasons people get trapped in poverty, and so many lottery winners go bankrupt.

If that was your intention you'd probably be better off sticking the money in trust and scheduling payments of $20K/year to each beneficiary. That way they don't have the option of screwing it up. The trustees still do, of course.

Of course, none of that means they should ask you for money after you've already been so generous.

When I saw the thread title I assumed it meant dreams, which was uncannily timed following a dream last night where I was called away from my sister's wedding to attend an interview for a job I hadn't applied for at a magazine I didn't read, and because the interview was too far to reach and back in a single day (although I got a taxi there) I had to stay with my ex's former landlady on arrival.

Grinner

2014-11-20, 08:50 PM

When I saw the thread title I assumed it meant dreams, which was uncannily timed following a dream last night where I was called away from my sister's wedding to attend an interview for a job I hadn't applied for at a magazine I didn't read, and because the interview was too far to reach and back in a single day (although I got a taxi there) I had to stay with my ex's former landlady on arrival.

That's some crazy recall you have there. :smalleek:

SowZ

2014-11-20, 08:54 PM

That's some crazy recall you have there. :smalleek:

It's a skill and can be developed. Back when I was a lucid dream trainer I could recall 17 or 18 dreams a night in vivid detail. Hours worth of stuff. Not because I'm crazy smart or anything, but just because I'd practiced it for years.

Anarion

2014-11-20, 09:02 PM

Nah, that's pretty normal. What'd be ridiculous is wanting to be the first ICC prosecutor to call a dolphin as a witness, which is what I only sort of jokingly described as my career goal in high school.

If I were to ever call an animal as a witness, it would have to be some species of parrot in fine Phoenix Wright tradition. Calling a parrot as a witness is the surprise move that never fails. Never. *glowers at anyone about to object*

Be debt free by the time I retire.

Hahahaha haha ha *sobs* *sobs a lot* *drowns in tears*

I'm looking at $200-300k for vet school. I don't foresee being debt-free ever and I'm not even old enough to drink yet. ;-;

Two things. One, being debt free is perhaps the only thing worse than being highly indebted that you can do to your credit rating. Because the credit rating system is in competition for the "most stupid thing known to humanity" award. So, there's that.

Two, if you're not doing things with other people's money, you're not doing enough things. The investment choice is about relative profit from an investment compared to relative cost of a loan, with a small premium of how much you can handle should an emergency come up. Student loans, for example, are overrated to pay off because you can frequently invest the money you would have spent paying the loan on something that's more lucrative instead and make the minimum loan payment. If you ever own property that you don't live in, taking equity loans and refinancing is a great way to have lots of cash when you need it, and you can either do that for a big emergency or other major expenditure knowing that you can handle the payments for a while after (that should be rare), or you can use it to make further investments that pay for the monthly debt.

noparlpf

2014-11-20, 09:05 PM

Two things. One, being debt free is perhaps the only thing worse than being highly indebted that you can do to your credit rating. Because the credit rating system is in competition for the "most stupid thing known to humanity" award. So, there's that.

Two, if you're not doing things with other people's money, you're not doing enough things. The investment choice is about relative profit from an investment compared to relative cost of a loan, with a small premium of how much you can handle should an emergency come up. Student loans, for example, are overrated to pay off because you can frequently invest the money you would have spent paying the loan on something that's more lucrative instead and make the minimum loan payment. If you ever own property that you don't live in, taking equity loans and refinancing is a great way to have lots of cash when you need it, and you can either do that for a big emergency or other major expenditure knowing that you can handle the payments for a while after (that should be rare), or you can use it to make further investments that pay for the monthly debt.

Except that I literally don't even care about the money. If I wanted money I would go into something with a cheap entry cost and high return, not something with a near-impossible entry cost and low return.

Grinner

2014-11-20, 09:19 PM

It's a skill and can be developed. Back when I was a lucid dream trainer I could recall 17 or 18 dreams a night in vivid detail. Hours worth of stuff. Not because I'm crazy smart or anything, but just because I'd practiced it for years.

It's not for a lack of trying on my part. I've been keeping a dream journal, but I get them muddled so often. That, or I'll simply go a week without remembering them.

Wonder if my sleep patterns have anything to do with it?

Jeff the Green

2014-11-20, 09:41 PM

None of my dreams are particularly interesting, and if I detail them, I'm probably going to end up sounding bitter.

Well, actually, here's one that is actually a real dream of mine, but is weird enough to be fun and entertaining (I hope) :smallwink::

Winning enough in a lottery so that I can help fund the genetic resurrection of the Passenger Pigeon, if that project proves to be possible. (Woolly mammoth is my real dream, of course, but I'm not sure if the tech exists for that ... yet.)

(Double edit: please no "cloning of mammoth -- is it morally justified?" debates, I don't want to be the cause of any moderation problems in this thread with my silly, geeky, very sincere dream of restoring a few extinct species.)

No ethical debate, but from a scientific standpoint, wooly mammoth might be the easier of the two, at least if you don't want it to be a one-off. I don't know how well the passenger pigeon specimens we have are preserved from a DNA standpoint, so it's possible that the deep freeze some mammoth specimens have been in would be better for reconstituting their genetic material in a useful format too, but more importantly, the proximate cause of the passenger pigeon's extinction wasn't excessive hunting (though that's certainly the ultimate cause); it was alee effects (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allee_effect). (Well, technically the proximate cause was probably a stroke.)

Basically, in order to reproduce at a sustainable rate, they needed a certain, fairly large, population size, much low how if the entire human population were reduced to 10,000 people now we'd have a hard time keeping the species from going extinct even though we've been that low before. Once they were brought below that by hunting, they were doomed and only an effort more massive than what we're doing for the whooping cranes could have saved them. So, while you could probably get a self-sustaining (if horribly inbred and vulnerable to disease) population of mammoths going with just a few cloned individuals and a few protected generations, you'd need to produce thousands of passenger pigeons in the lab and a breeding facility before you could get to that point.

SowZ

2014-11-20, 10:03 PM

It's not for a lack of trying on my part. I've been keeping a dream journal, but I get them muddled so often. That, or I'll simply go a week without remembering them.

Wonder if my sleep patterns have anything to do with it?

I used to be a lucid dream trainer. I'm familiar with all kinds of dreamers. If you'd like help, feel free to PM me. Absolutely no pressure, though.

SiuiS

2014-11-20, 10:18 PM

Because compound interest almost never works in your favor (interest on savings, say), but nearly always against you (just check out most loan/credit rates and terms).

Oh? Could you do a breakdown? I get cross-eyed when reading sense numbers unless I'm already interested, and a conversational tone would help. A PM would work to avoid derailment.

Hahahaha haha ha *sobs* *sobs a lot* *drowns in tears*

I'm looking at $200-300k for vet school. I don't foresee being debt-free ever and I'm not even old enough to drink yet. ;-;

Aye. I'm at a tenth of that, but still.

I don't even care about the money. I have a roof, communion and food (most of the time :smallredface:). But that's gotta change, I've got progeny. Sigh.

If that was your intention you'd probably be better off sticking the money in trust and scheduling payments of $20K/year to each beneficiary. That way they don't have the option of screwing it up. The trustees still do, of course.

That's about what I meant, just without the specifics. After one year. Two million pays your taxes and gives you a decent enough salary. You can live on twenty K – I lived on ten for a few years. You just need your priorities straight. And having that much supplemental makes even a job like "seven eleven night crew" comfy.

I strongly advocate against anyone rich quitting. There's nothing like purposeless boredom to make you burn assets.

That's some crazy recall you have there. :smalleek:

Isn't that normal? At least immediately afterwards? My biggest issue isn't recall, it's differentiation. I'm still sifting through which childhood memories actually happened.

If I were to ever call an animal as a witness, it would have to be some species of parrot in fine Phoenix Wright tradition. Calling a parrot as a witness is the surprise move that never fails. Never. *glowers at anyone about to object*

I read that as call a Phoenix to the stand, parrot right style. I was like, "dream big, buddy! Dream big~"

Two things. One, being debt free is perhaps the only thing worse than being highly indebted that you can do to your credit rating. Because the credit rating system is in competition for the "most stupid thing known to humanity" award. So, there's that.

Two, if you're not doing things with other people's money, you're not doing enough things. The investment choice is about relative profit from an investment compared to relative cost of a loan, with a small premium of how much you can handle should an emergency come up. Student loans, for example, are overrated to pay off because you can frequently invest the money you would have spent paying the loan on something that's more lucrative instead and make the minimum loan payment. If you ever own property that you don't live in, taking equity loans and refinancing is a great way to have lots of cash when you need it, and you can either do that for a big emergency or other major expenditure knowing that you can handle the payments for a while after (that should be rare), or you can use it to make further investments that pay for the monthly debt.

One of these days I'm going to have to sit you down with a newspaper and a legal pad and figure out the practical upswing of all this. It's so sound in theory and then the rubber hits the road and Derp.

I blame it on living my life like a waking dream. Well. Not blame. Acknowledge as a side effect.

late for dinner

2014-11-20, 11:18 PM

I like this thread. Ok, so maybe you might not think these are ridiculous, but they are pretty dreamy to me...yet still completely realistic.

1: When (If) I get to retire: Move to California and live out the rest of my years as a Cast member at Disneyland...driving a car, running the tower of terror, walking down the street in a top hat and cane and smiling at people, being the train conductor...anything. It blows "Being a greeter at Wal-Mart" out of the water for cool "retirement" jobs.

2: Travel to Ireland, go to a small town pub, and sing Irish pub songs with the locals...including my favorite: "The Parting Glass". (Do they still sing songs in pubs in Ireland?)

3: Own a coffee/board game shop...and by this I mean. I want to own a coffee shop that is fairly big. Inside, I would have tons of tables and my giant board game collection. People could come in and pay a fee for the day/game, buy coffee/edible stuff/beer, and just hang out and play fun board games. My staff would be knowledgeable in all my game's rules, so they could also be mediators/rule clear-er uppers. I would also have a small stage in the corner where I could host Karaoke and open mic nights. The Barne's & Nobels just closed down close to where I live. I feel that that space would be sufficiant :-) Location would have to be key to keep this a successful business...probably close to Arizona State University. I could partner with a local coffee shop/coffee cult to provide coffee. The only thing that is really keeping me from doing this is the starting capital.

Serpentine

2014-11-21, 02:23 AM

A place has opened near me that has a whole lot of board games and you go in and pay something like $3 for an hour to play whatever games you want. It's pretty great. I'd like to go there more often. It only has a tiny selection of food and drink, though. I wonder if they'll upgrade to something more cafe-y if it takes off... That'll probably increase their costs a whole lot, though.

If someone's gonna clone stuff, don't forget the poor old Thylacine.

Rain Dragon

2014-11-21, 04:24 AM

I want to move to Germany... It may happen, but not soon.
I also want a cat, but I'm currently in a situation where that's more or less off the cards and moving out of aforementioned situation is proving quite difficult.
I'd like to paint my bedroom to look like a light forest with the roof decorated with stars visible between leaves and replace the carpet with a stone floor. Well, either that or find a way to go back to living in the middle of a forest reasonably...

Less practical and more dreamy, I have recurring dreams of living in an impressive underground home.

Taet

2014-11-21, 11:51 AM

I want chrome. Everywhere. :smallcool: I want shiny metal and glass everything that is not normal to be shiny metal and glass. Glass garden beds for ordinary eating plants and so I can see the soil and roots. Maybe a hydroponic system. Chromed old workhorse sewing machines. Glass knobs on the doors. Books wrapped in thin metal covers like iPads. And one of those shiny metal motorhomes. I want the top minds of the 1950s to look in at my house and go "yes this is the future but that is a bit much". :smallwink:

Navian

2014-11-30, 02:03 AM

For a moment I thought you were going to add 'and a cybernetic total body replacement' in there. I'm all for that, in theory, anyway. I'm pretty sure if I actually got one it would be more of a lemon than the one I started with. Then again, I'd probably decline to get the chrome model to save money, so it'd be my just desserts.

My dream is to be part of an organization that takes care of its employees. I mean, really does it, not just some words and phone calls. Communal showers, dormitories, hall monitors, cafeterias, playgrounds. Why can't adults have these things? So much better to have than a house and a car and a personal kitchen, and it would save so much time and money for better things than chores and self-care.

Better yet if I can do all this in outer space, or on Mars!

Ifni

2014-11-30, 03:23 AM

Communal showers, dormitories, hall monitors, cafeterias, playgrounds. Why can't adults have these things? So much better to have than a house and a car and a personal kitchen, and it would save so much time and money for better things than chores and self-care.

This would be a nightmare for me. I moved out of grad school dorms into a studio apartment so small I could sit at my desk typing with one hand and adjusting the pot of pasta on the stove with the other, in order to have my own bathroom (including shower) and my own kitchen. I was paying more than half my post-tax income on rent, and considered it a good deal.

I like my own cooking much more than I like cafeteria food; I can fine-tune it to fit my tastes and dietary requirements, which isn't possible in a communal setting. And playgrounds, eh, doubt I would use them much. That said, I have worked for an organization that provided on-site apartments, lunches and afternoon cookies for its employees, so pretty much everyone lived in the same place (five minutes walk from work) and ate daytime meals in the same place, and that was nice.

Aedilred

2014-11-30, 06:36 AM

This would be a nightmare for me.

Yeah, it sounds hellish.

It would be nice to retain some elements of school/university accommodation: principally the option to eat in hall/cafeteria/whatever your organisation called it when you really couldn't be bothered cooking, the concentration of friends in a relatively small area, and the provision of cleaners so you only have to pay lip service to housework. But that alone is, to my mind, in no way worth the trade-offs that tend to come with it. Why are communal showers considered unacceptable for private adults? They're not, as far as I know, it's just that nobody wants to endure them for a single shower longer than they have to. Hall monitors? I guess I'm coming from an environment where I never had to deal with them, but are they really something that people miss except as part of the general youth-nostalgia package? Moreover much of the enjoyability of that environment is contextual; if you're locked into a 9-5 (or similar) working schedule it's never going to be as much fun as when you're largely in control of you own time, and unless you're exceptionally fortunate in your line of work then nothing will ever be as consistently stimulating as that sort of educational environment.

In the more general application of wishing it were possible to have all the benefits of independent adulthood without any of the attendant responsibilities or tedium, I could get right behind that, despite its being largely paradoxical. But I wouldn't want to return to a high school/university-equivalent lifestyle either, because a lot of it was just objectively rubbish.

Castaras

2014-11-30, 07:03 AM

I want to have a big house in the yorkshire dales. It will have the following rooms:

- A room with computers. Server, computers for lan, shelves full of games and computer components.
- A room for wargaming and roleplaying with a huge table that has a computer in it for showing images of terrain for wargaming/rolegaming. Shelves full of wargaming armies, roleplaying figures, rulebooks, and two tablets with stats for wargaming units for use when gaming.
- A room for boardgames. With huge geek table with drawers and side compartments for dice and cards and stuff. Shelves full of boardgames. Two Big chest of drawers - one dedicated to Magic: The Gathering and one dedicated to the My Little Pony Cardgame.
- Living room with comfiest sofas, TV hooked up to the aforementioned computer room server, and also with the ability to do big screen computer games with controllers if needbe. Also, with a wood burning fireplace and all walls covered in books. Coffee table with more books.
- Boyfriend grew up with an aga so wants a house with an aga - so kitchen with aga for him to cook with, seeing as he's the better cook. :smalltongue:

And there will be many kitties, and maybe a german shepherd or labrador. Definitely kitties, and maybe (dunno) some sort of big, extremely relaxed, very friendly dog.

If I one day have all these things, then I know life will be awesome.

Other things to add in:

- Room for arty stuff. Table for painting gaming figures. Lightbox, touchscreen pc connected to server in main computer room. Drawing stuff. Halogen oven for cooking polymer clay models.

Asta Kask

2014-11-30, 07:12 AM

I want to spend the rest of my life at University, choosing new and interesting courses each year.

SiuiS

2014-11-30, 01:39 PM

noparlpf

2014-11-30, 01:43 PM

I want to spend the rest of my life at University, choosing new and interesting courses each year.

This, minus online homework/group projects/lab partners.

SiuiS

2014-11-30, 01:53 PM

But there's nothing sopping you from having a university level education as you go. And I can't understand wantig a life of eternal preparation and never doing anything with it. O.o

noparlpf

2014-11-30, 02:00 PM

But there's nothing stopping you from having a university level education as you go. And I can't understand wanting a life of eternal preparation and never doing anything with it. O.o

University was originally just about academia. You're not preparing for anything, you're just studying stuff you think is neat because you can. The modern system of university as preparation for a practical career is pretty new (and pretty flawed but that's another topic).

Asta Kask

2014-11-30, 02:00 PM

Because I'm a scholar at heart. I love nothing as much as learning.

Frozen_Feet

2014-11-30, 02:03 PM

Taking a hike through Russia to China.

noparlpf

2014-11-30, 02:04 PM

I've had too many bad professors or annoying lab partners to want to do university forever though. What I really want is like, Wikipedia from a thousand years from now. Anything I could possibly want to know, easily searchable, organised and written up in full detail.

SiuiS

2014-11-30, 02:48 PM

Because I'm a scholar at heart. I love nothing as much as learning.

University is not the only or even best learning environment. You can learn eternally without university. Hence the baffling.

I agree with old and possibly falsely attributed Norse thought on the matter though. An eternal student is a bad thing because they are just a student, whereas a fisherman, a soldier, a carpenter or a judge encapsulate being a student and also living a productive life.

Tvtyrant

2014-11-30, 02:58 PM

a productive life.

I don't buy into this concept. Labor as a moral good came about in the period following the American Revolution, and baffled the founding fathers. Until then labor was considered a moral impairment, making an individual dependent on others and reducing their time for contemplation. In the current era when production so outstrips consumption and unemployment rates are permanent it seems strange to put so much value on production for its own sake.

Jeff the Green

2014-11-30, 03:06 PM

noparlpf

2014-11-30, 03:08 PM

Yeah...when a single human's labor can provide for a hundred humans (random numbers, just for the gist), there's no point for everybody to be "productive" or for everybody to "have to" be productive.

And when you're spending most of your time working for other people (as a doctor, lawyer, engineer) you don't really have much time to continue your own studies.

Frozen_Feet

2014-11-30, 03:13 PM

Correction: when a single machine's labor can provide for a hundred humans, we can fire all the humans. :smallwink::smalltongue:

noparlpf

2014-11-30, 03:24 PM

Correction: when a single machine's labor can provide for a hundred humans, we can fire all the humans. :smallwink::smalltongue:

Well, yeah. But for now some of those machines do still need human supervisors.

SiuiS

2014-11-30, 03:36 PM

I don't buy into this concept. Labor as a moral good came about in the period following the American Revolution, and baffled the founding fathers. Until then labor was considered a moral impairment, making an individual dependent on others and reducing their time for contemplation. In the current era when production so outstrips consumption and unemployment rates are permanent it seems strange to put so much value on production for its own sake.

Who said labor? I'm also not worried about moral good (although I would personally align my productivity with my morality).

In general, learning something that will not improve your life but will just be a thing you know now, is wasted time. If learning something improves you, in actio'c thought or process, cool. Accumulating academic XP just to boost your academics skill and never roll those dice though? Pass. We have too much mental masturbation in out lives as it is.

Depends on how you define "productive". If you mean "producing goods or services others value," yeah, it's pretty empty. If you mean "doing something worth doing, however you define 'worth'" (which is how I'd interpret it in this context) then just about every moral philosopher would agree that it's a good thing.

I mean, I didn't produce much others value during college, but I still consider (most of) that time productive.

Yep. Although I notice now that your definition does allow for Anders to be an eternal university student. Heh.

Yeah...when a single human's labor can provide for a hundred humans (random numbers, just for the gist), there's no point for everybody to be "productive" or for everybody to "have to" be productive.

And when you're spending most of your time working for other people (as a doctor, lawyer, engineer) you don't really have much time to continue your own studies.

The problem there is logistics isn't it? Producing food for a hundred dodos doesn't get food to a hundred doods.

It is also my experience that both lawyers and doctors literally learn constantly as an everyday part of their job. I know one lawyer who told me his job is (paraphrasing) basically te research part of a RAW argument, cross referencing a slew of books and verdicts he has never really read before and distilling that down to "you're wrong, and here is why".

Tvtyrant

2014-11-30, 03:55 PM

Who said labor? I'm also not worried about moral good (although I would personally align my productivity with my morality).

In general, learning something that will not improve your life but will just be a thing you know now, is wasted time. If learning something improves you, in actio'c thought or process, cool. Accumulating academic XP just to boost your academics skill and never roll those dice though? Pass. We have too much mental masturbation in out lives as it is.

In what way are you using the term productive then? If you aren't referring to it as a moral good, and you aren't referring to it in the utilitarian sense, what are you saying?

Verte

2014-11-30, 04:05 PM

I've wanted to take a road trip through all of the lower 48 US states since I was about twelve, with lengthy stops in the states I haven't visited before. The thing is about that is that I would want to go with someone, and so far I haven't met anyone who also wants to do that, and would want to with me. Plus, it would cost a lot of time and money, the latter of which I don't have enough of to realistically go on a huge road trip and still live comfortably when I go home. It's also one of those things that seems fun to read about, but probably would not be nearly as enjoyable to experience.

I've also wanted to have a place with a big workshop where I could build, like, pipe organs out of found parts, or model towns, or full-scale trebuchets.

In regards to learning, if I want to learn all about knitting and so end up knitting lots of comfortable clothes in the process, that's something tangible that people value. If I want to learn all about music and so end up composing lots of music and at least one person enjoys that music, that's also something tangible that people value. If I spend decades researching say, geology, and adding to the body of knowledge about geology, than that's also something that some people will value. The last item is really suited to and requires a university education, while the first one isn't really at all, and the second one is only in certain cases.

Concerning the moral value of certain types of work compared to others...well, that would probably depend on what philosophies or belief systems resonate with me, and I don't know if I can go into that on this forum.

SiuiS

2014-11-30, 04:16 PM

You can't understand a productive life that isn't based on morality or on capitalist economics? I don't know how to interface with that.

Tvtyrant

2014-11-30, 04:19 PM

{scrubbed}

Asta Kask

2014-11-30, 04:21 PM

University is not the only or even best learning environment. You can learn eternally without university. Hence the baffling.

Agreed. I just happen to like learning at a university.

Ifni

2014-11-30, 04:35 PM

You can't understand a productive life that isn't based on morality or on capitalist economics? I don't know how to interface with that.

I think the question is what do you mean by "productive" - do you mean the definition suggested above, which you seemed to agree with when it was suggested: "doing something worth doing, however you define worth?" Your initial suggestion that learning for its own sake is not "productive" seemed to contradict that; did you change your mind? If you mean "doing something worth doing, as SiuiS defines worth" then that seems to get back into morality.

And yeah, there are areas where we haven't yet found a better method for learning than university study (at least, not one that allows a significant number of people to take advantage of it). It's not true for all areas, of course, but I remember when I went to grad school being a little annoyed about having to take certain courses - I thought it would be more efficient for me to just learn what I needed on my own, in the course of research - and a month into grad school (in theoretical physics) I had realized just how wrong I was.

Especially in conceptually intricate and difficult fields, it helps a lot to have a teacher who can guide you in the right direction and help you over the inevitable confusions, as well as giving you feedback on your mistakes. Sure, if you can get one-on-one teaching from an expert, that may be superior to university study (although bouncing ideas back and forth with your peers is also a good way to learn), but it's a grossly inefficient method for propagating knowledge. There's also a human-nature issue - most people aren't very good at motivating themselves to do intense, abstract study, for extended periods of time, on their own. I'm thinking of topics like general relativity, quantum field theory, string theory - if you want to learn them well enough to actually use them, you must do (lots and lots and lots of) problems (just reading the texts is never enough), and you must have someone (who knows the subject) to talk to about the concepts and give you feedback on your work, and at that point you're basically talking about university.

Of course, yes, you can learn eternally without university or formal education at all, but there are at least some topics/fields it is very hard to learn in depth on your own. (And this isn't even getting into laboratory science, which, yeah, you need a lab to practice in.)

Jeff the Green

2014-11-30, 05:24 PM

Yep. Although I notice now that your definition does allow for Anders to be an eternal university student. Heh.

There are factors that can make studying at a university more productive than autodidacticism. For one, not everyone is capable of that. (I know that every time I've tried to learn chemistry on my own I've failed even more miserably than when I took classes.) Universities are also places where ideas are put into practice, whether that's extracurriculars like political involvement or student research, and where you can interface with people who know a lot about stuff outside your field, which can be incredibly useful in producing ideas.

I agree that learning is probably not productive in se. But the only ones who merely learn at a university are the poor students and the disengaged.

Lheticus

2014-11-30, 07:54 PM

Depends on how you define "productive". If you mean "producing goods or services others value," yeah, it's pretty empty. If you mean "doing something worth doing, however you define 'worth'" (which is how I'd interpret it in this context) then just about every moral philosopher would agree that it's a good thing.

I mean, I didn't produce much others value during college, but I still consider (most of) that time productive.

Who said labor? I'm also not worried about moral good (although I would personally align my productivity with my morality).

In general, learning something that will not improve your life but will just be a thing you know now, is wasted time. If learning something improves you, in actio'c thought or process, cool. Accumulating academic XP just to boost your academics skill and never roll those dice though? Pass. We have too much mental masturbation in out lives as it is.

Yep. Although I notice now that your definition does allow for Anders to be an eternal university student. Heh.

The problem there is logistics isn't it? Producing food for a hundred dodos doesn't get food to a hundred doods.

It is also my experience that both lawyers and doctors literally learn constantly as an everyday part of their job. I know one lawyer who told me his job is (paraphrasing) basically te research part of a RAW argument, cross referencing a slew of books and verdicts he has never really read before and distilling that down to "you're wrong, and here is why".

To paraphrase Jack Sparrow, if I may attempt to lend a machete to this intellectual thicket I believe what SiuiS is getting at is that by "productive", xe means to perform acts of significant benefit, more so than acts devoid of benefit. Possibly a more precise semantical term for this is worthwhile, it completely voids any possibility of the productive/production link that seems to have caused this confusion in the first place. As xe is disregarding morality I am not entirely certain what benefit xe would like to achieve, hopefully we're not dealing with someone trying to take over the world here. :smalltongue:

On the use of "xe"--I don't know if you're a guy or a girl Siuis. I'm aware going with "he" is probably playing the odds this being the internet, but I prefer not to do that here.

GPuzzle

2014-11-30, 07:58 PM

I want to create a fully functioning robotic arm and materializing sunglasses.

Just to make the best Adam Jensen (the guy from Deus Ex: Human Revolution) cosplay of all times.

Maybe just the robotic arm.

SiuiS

2014-11-30, 08:26 PM

I'm asking you to clarify what you are saying so I don't take insult at your choice of terms, and instead you leap to ad hominem attacks. All I can say at this point is that I am disappointed in you.

I didn't make an ad hominem attack. I rephrased what you said so you understand what I'm getting from you, and said I don't know how to answer in a way that means anything to you.

I could give you all the examples of what I mean again, but you didn't get anything from them the first time and I can't think of any new way to convey what I meant. You are coming from an entirely different place on this than I am. If I get more information or a different perspective then that should change.

Your initial suggestion that learning for its own sake is not "productive" seemed to contradict that; did you change your mind?

I Still believe learning just to have learned something is bad because you aren't going to use what you've learned. Your life is identical to having not learned it except you've lost some time and maybe you are smug now.

A professional in the field has that same education, but is better for it. It has worth to them because they get improved life quality out of it. The reverse of this - always preparing, never ready – is bad.

If you mean "doing something worth doing, as SiuiS defines worth" then that seems to get back into morality.

Why can people say working in a communal setting is literally akin to hell but it is odd for me to say I find no worth in some things and worth in others? I think we have lost sight of the qualifier "I agree with the idea that –".

And yeah, there are areas where we haven't yet found a better method for learning than university study (at least, not one that allows a significant number of people to take advantage of it). It's not true for all areas, of course, but I remember when I went to grad school being a little annoyed about having to take certain courses - I thought it would be more efficient for me to just learn what I needed on my own, in the course of research - and a month into grad school (in theoretical physics) I had realized just how wrong I was.

Indeed. I cannot, for example, do long division. I spent six months re-learning it every afternoon for homework. That sucked. I've had a class let me get the concept for a good six months, though.

Grinner

2014-11-30, 08:31 PM

Easy living.

I'd like to be able to hang out in libraries all day, travel where I wish, and retire to moderate comfort at the end of the day.

Silly, right?

SiuiS

2014-11-30, 08:33 PM

To paraphrase Jack Sparrow, if I may attempt to lend a machete to this intellectual thicket I believe what SiuiS is getting at is that by "productive", xe means to perform acts of significant benefit, more so than acts devoid of benefit. Possibly a more precise semantical term for this is worthwhile, it completely voids any possibility of the productive/production link that seems to have caused this confusion in the first place. As xe is disregarding morality I am not entirely certain what benefit xe would like to achieve, hopefully we're not dealing with someone trying to take over the world here. :smalltongue:

Ah, that does clarify things for me. If worthwhile is an appropriate term, then productive does, indeed take on a moral tone I was blind to prior. Thank you.

Sorry... Ifni? During the quote cutting process I lost track of who I was specifically discussing morality as a relevant tag with.

Aedilred

2014-11-30, 08:49 PM

I Still believe learning just to have learned something is bad because you aren't going to use what you've learned. Your life is identical to having not learned it except you've lost some time and maybe you are smug now.

A professional in the field has that same education, but is better for it. It has worth to them because they get improved life quality out of it. The reverse of this - always preparing, never ready – is bad.
I disagree almost completely, and fully support knowledge/education for its own sake.

If I'm actively learning something I consider that a positive factor on my overall quality of life, almost regardless of whether it's "useful".

In fact I think that the increasingly apparent prioritisation of career application in academic circles is fundamentally undermining the integrity of higher education at least in this country. But that's starting to veer into politics, so I won't elaborate on that.

SiuiS

2014-11-30, 10:50 PM

That's fine. I just feel there's more of worth if someone reads a How To For Dummies book on agriculture and starts a garden farm than if someone takes a master's level course in agriculture, finishes and says "that was fun, let's stay in school for six more years" and repeats forever.

It's as much an issue with social context as anything though. College is the new highschool. I know two people who chose their courses for a direction in life and literal hundreds who kept going to school without a direction because it's how they lived the last thirteen years, damned if this next few would be different. Of those hundreds, a good few dozen or more who are in college and university because it buys them an additional four to six years before they have to grow up and do anything with their lives, because the heuristic of 'you need to go to college' sunk in but the requirement to take responsibility for what you learn has not.

Higher education out of fear of independence is not something I will ever laud, not is it something I believe will go away anytime soon. If you are in university specifically because your life is so together you can afford to A) live and B) attend simultaneously, more power to you. You are what others should aspire to be.

Crow

2014-11-30, 11:54 PM

College is the new highschool.

As a business owner who has hired plenty of people for admittedly entry-level work, I tend to agree.

People who I have hired that have 4-6 years working jobs, have been more mature, reliable, and overall easier to manage than the people right out of college with their shiny degree. It has actually led to comments like the following (spoken from one of our managers to a new-hire):

"I'm sorry that you couldn't find work as a cultural anthropologist; but with your behavior and work ethic, I doubt you would have made it as that either."

We play $18/hour for an entry level position in a fun environment with perks. We expect a certain level of performance that apparently none of the recent college grads we've hired have been unable to live up to (which isn't all that high). Our best employees have been those who have spent 4-12 years in the workforce before coming to us.

I am all for education for its own sake, but college probably isn't the place to do it. An investment like that (at least in the States) should provide clear and tangible benefits. Otherwise you are just going to be another out of work cultural anthropologist with no work experience.

Verte

2014-12-01, 12:16 AM

Isn't this whole discussion about whether post-secondary education is productive or not besides the point? This is a thread to discuss "ridiculous dreams", not to knock other people's dreams down. There are lots of things mentioned that aren't necessarily productive depending on your point of view, and I'm sure most of the people discussing them realize it.

Therefore, statements like this:

Higher education out of fear of independence is not something I will ever laud, not is it something I believe will go away anytime soon. If you are in university specifically because your life is so together you can afford to A) live and B) attend simultaneously, more power to you. You are what others should aspire to be.

and this:

I am all for education for its own sake, but college probably isn't the place to do it. An investment like that (at least in the States) should provide clear and tangible benefits. Otherwise you are just going to be another out of work cultural anthropologist with no work experience.

come off as so much unnecessary preaching and griping, in a thread that is largely about impractical daydreams. Or, if we knock down wanting to be able to take interesting classes at university indefinitely (with the obvious understanding that it is not necessarily practical to do so!), maybe we should knock down other daydreams in the spirit of fairness? Note, I'm not arguing about whether or not college is practical, or whether your points would be valid in a discussion about the state of higher education in the United States, just that this comes off rather like someone criticizing a film because none of the lead characters are shown using a bathroom, and that's just not realistic.

Ok, sorry about that, rant over.

SiuiS

2014-12-01, 12:27 AM

Isn't this whole discussion about whether post-secondary education is productive or not besides the point?

Eh. Not really? For one, no one has actively knocked someone else's dream as bad, just said it wasn't for them and why. I've already said Anders' dream was cool. If you're going to find my statement of "I like this Viking concept" to be preachy but not someone directly saying "your dream is my literal hell", i can only surmise something else is bothering you. Is it the length? Because I'm all for anyone else's dream coming up and being talked about. :smallsmile:

Crow

2014-12-01, 12:49 AM

For the education for education's sake people: You do know that you can sit in on courses at nearly any community college or university (provided seating is available), absolutely free, right? I did it for two years.

Granted depending on what you're seeking to learn it may not be as productive as actually being enrolled because there are certain activities that you cannot take part in (though that depends on the course/instructor).

Just thought I would throw that out there.

Verte

2014-12-01, 01:10 AM

Eh, no, I was referring only to the previous two posts as coming off as somewhat preachy, and I don't see anything about vikings there. I don't necessarily think it was tactful to say that what Navian described is a nightmare, or that it sounds hellish, so I'm not sure why you're bringing that up in relation to what I said, especially since they were a bit before I posted and weren't really being discussed at that point. I am sorry for the little rant, though, and if I came off as unduly harsh or reactionary.

Also, as far as auditing classes is concerned, at most of the colleges I know of it still costs money. In fact, at the community college nearby it costs the same as attending for credit. Unless you meant you just asked for the professors' permission to sit in class, which I haven't honestly heard of anybody doing before now.

Crow

2014-12-01, 01:29 AM

Also, as far as auditing classes is concerned, at most of the colleges I know of it still costs money. In fact, at the community college nearby it costs the same as attending for credit. Unless you meant you just asked for the professors' permission to sit in class, which I haven't honestly heard of anybody doing before now.

Auditing is generally an option for people actually enrolled at the college. I'm talking about literal walk-in, sit down, while not being enrolled at all. I *did* ask permission though, and never received a refusal in two years and four different institutions.

SiuiS

2014-12-01, 01:51 AM

Eh, no, I was referring only to the previous two posts as coming off as somewhat preachy, and I don't see anything about vikings there.

It started when I said this.

I agree with old and possibly falsely attributed Norse thought on the matter though.

As for the other, I didn't get why mine bothered you but the previous (in my opinion worse) one didn't. "It's not currently being discussed" is a good answer though. XD

Honestly, my non-attainable dream is the same as Grinner's. No debt, not much "work" in the wage slave sense, and a self-reliability that doesn't come at the expense of my being able to enjoy society.

Ifni

2014-12-01, 02:00 AM

I don't necessarily think it was tactful to say that what Navian described is a nightmare,

Just as a note, I said it would be a nightmare for me. If other people like the idea, that's cool for them. Apologies to Navian if this came across as saying the idea was inherently bad, I was just interested/amused to see someone mentioning one of my literal nightmares/dystopias as something they would really enjoy. People are different.

I suppose for me the utterly-practical-but-not-going-to-happen-at-all dream involves owning multiple Newfoundlands. It's not going to happen - I don't want to take care of a house or yard big enough to accommodate multiple Newfoundlands, even if I could afford such; my travel schedule is not very conducive to cat ownership much less a pack of puppies; and yet they are so gorgeous and fluffy and adorable and excuse me I have to go watch puppy videos on YouTube now...

... I now open the floor for people to say that having multiple giant dogs rampaging around their house is a personal nightmare :smallwink:

Crow

2014-12-01, 02:39 AM

I have multiple large dogs in the house, and it is heaven.

SiuiS

2014-12-01, 03:00 AM

Jeff the Green

2014-12-01, 03:54 AM

This is a thread to discuss "ridiculous dreams"

Which, I should note, very few people have done. Most have given impractical but sensible dreams. I was talking about "I want to have an outdoor swimming pool and fill it with custard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN2D5y-AxIY)", not "I want to have Michael Phelps for a swim instructor."

Grumble grumble.

SiuiS

2014-12-01, 03:58 AM

I want to learn enough acting to change my stance and posture, build a pagoda dojo in my backyard, dress up in full do go with porcelain mask, gloves, wig, no skin showing, and use a voice synthesizer to convince my children that an ancestral spirit lives with us and is teaching them martial arts. Complete with passing on the mantle when I get older and they graduate, selecting one to become the new ancestral spirit and inducting them into the ways of our ninja dojo.

But that got passed up because it didn't get spelled out clearly just how wrong in the noodle I am. :smalltongue:

E: oh, and I wanted an Uncle Scrooge style money non once, until I fell onto a pile of nickels. That hurt.

Grinner

2014-12-01, 05:58 AM

Which, I should note, very few people have done. Most have given impractical but sensible dreams. I was talking about "I want to have an outdoor swimming pool and fill it with custard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN2D5y-AxIY)", ...

I'm afraid to ask why you might consider this practical in any sense of the term... :smallconfused:

Jeff the Green

2014-12-01, 06:23 AM

I'm afraid to ask why you might consider this practical in any sense of the term... :smallconfused:

It's perfectly and straightforwardly realizable. I just need to make enough money to have a backyard with a swimming pool and buy a metric butt-ton of cornstarch. 'Practicable' might be more accurate, now that I think of it.

Lheticus

2014-12-01, 11:01 AM

noparlpf

2014-12-01, 01:07 PM

Considering how unfocussed and non-preparatory my undergraduate experience was, I would tend to agree that undergrad is the new high school and high school is the new middle school. Especially considering my brother is taking a "College Algebra and Trig" class at a local community college and we had both learned the same material in middle school (he at twelve and I at ten).

Also, as far as auditing classes is concerned, at most of the colleges I know of it still costs money. In fact, at the community college nearby it costs the same as attending for credit. Unless you meant you just asked for the professors' permission to sit in class, which I haven't honestly heard of anybody doing before now.

Auditing as a full-time enrolled student doesn't usually cost additional money. Auditing as a part-time enrolled student may or may not cost additional money. However, "auditing" is through the school's enrollment department and typically gives you access to any online course resources, to TAs, and to exams. I audited one class that I had taken two years earlier as a refresher before taking the next higher-level class, and was expected to attend class, hand in homework, and sit for exams. Informal auditing, on the other hand, is relatively common at larger public universities; you don't even necessarily have to talk to the professor if it's a big class. I've sat in on classes I wasn't enrolled in a few times, and there was one older couple who sat in on one of my upper-division physiology courses every day except for exam days.

Bulldog Psion

2014-12-01, 09:05 PM

No knowledge is useless.

At a very minimum, it will make you a more interesting conversationalist.

Jeff the Green

2014-12-01, 09:36 PM

No knowledge is useless.

At a very minimum, it will make you a more interesting conversationalist.

Maybe. Knowledge can be useless for a particular person, though. Gods willing, I will not use my knowledge of Wurtz-Fittig reactions, and even the chemists I know don't consider them enthralling cocktail chatter topics.

Navian

2014-12-02, 04:00 PM

Just as a note, I said it would be a nightmare for me. If other people like the idea, that's cool for them. Apologies to Navian if this came across as saying the idea was inherently bad, I was just interested/amused to see someone mentioning one of my literal nightmares/dystopias as something they would really enjoy. People are different.

I suppose for me the utterly-practical-but-not-going-to-happen-at-all dream involves owning multiple Newfoundlands. It's not going to happen - I don't want to take care of a house or yard big enough to accommodate multiple Newfoundlands, even if I could afford such; my travel schedule is not very conducive to cat ownership much less a pack of puppies; and yet they are so gorgeous and fluffy and adorable and excuse me I have to go watch puppy videos on YouTube now...

... I now open the floor for people to say that having multiple giant dogs rampaging around their house is a personal nightmare :smallwink:

Yeah, for a moment I thought you meant the island. Is there such a thing as a Newfoundland-Labrador hybrid? Hmm...

I completely understand the idea of it being a nightmare. It usually is, since communal living is generally stigmatized, so it's mostly only done by organizations who are trying hard to save money. That results in the people who live there surviving in conditions of near-poverty, which reinforces the stigma. Most people in dorms sleep on futons, drink cheap beer, and eat instant ramen, but it's not the dorms that make life there tough, it's the tight budget they're on.

If all the billionaires in the world pooled their resources, instead of each living in hundred-room mansions with their own staff of servants, they could all live in a gigantic crystal spire with the world's best food court, and eat whatever they wanted, prepared by top chefs from around the world, for free every day, surrounded by cultural ambience and live performances. Instead of each owning dozens of boats, yachts, automobiles and private aircraft, together they could build a fleet of communal high performance suborbital craft, helicopters, limousines, and watercraft, able to outperform their old vehicles by a factor of ten.

They could have bedrooms that would make the Princess of the Pea jealous, soundproof walls, the most amazing (terrestrial) views the world has ever seen, the world's greatest security staff, and the most innovative exercise facilities ever built. What kind of architectural masterpiece do you build when you have a budget for a swimming pool that's a thousand times higher than the one for the average palatial mansion's, and a thousand billionaires watching your every move as they take your bid? I'd love to find out!

It's not very practical, and I would be distinctly terrified if the above happened, but I think it's a good illustration of the difference between the nightmare and the dream... Prosaically, that difference turns out to be "a lot of money", haha! I know a lot of people would still rather have their own house, kitchen, and vehicles, and spend their own money, even if the results were of lower objective quality and were underutilized. I would, too, out of sentiment if nothing else, except that I feel very guilty about owning things that I don't use very often. As a result, I'm strangely more comfortable with paying for things I don't own or use, while hoping that someone else gets to benefit from it. Ah, well.

I guess this does sound a bit like Google.

Ifni

2014-12-02, 05:17 PM

Yeah, for a moment I thought you meant the island. Is there such a thing as a Newfoundland-Labrador hybrid? Hmm...

Apparently, the answer is yes (http://www.newfoundlanddreams.com/newfadors.html). Cuteness overload.

I completely understand the idea of it being a nightmare. It usually is, since communal living is generally stigmatized, so it's mostly only done by organizations who are trying hard to save money. That results in the people who live there surviving in conditions of near-poverty, which reinforces the stigma. Most people in dorms sleep on futons, drink cheap beer, and eat instant ramen, but it's not the dorms that make life there tough, it's the tight budget they're on.

Mm, to some degree, and again I bet it depends on the person. I'm personally pretty introverted: being constantly around other people is hard for me, it drains my energy, independent of how luxurious the conditions are. My budget got a lot tighter when I moved out of grad-school dorms into my own apartment, but being able to take a shower in privacy, and cook and eat on my own schedule and according to my own preferences, were so very worth it. (It helps that I actually enjoy cooking - it's a hobby as well as practical - and I'm good at cooking the kind of food I enjoy, so being told "you could pay (a small amount) to get other people to cook for you!" sort of comes across as "you could pay (a small amount) to get other people to play computer games for you!" Well sure I could but it sort of misses the point :smallwink:)

But I can see why other people might like it - I don't like driving or maintenance work on my house and car, so some aspects of your proposal do appeal to me :smallwink:

I don't know about dreams I have that are just ridiculous, but I could easily accomplish, unless you count things like skydiving as ridiculous :smallwink: I'm not really into pranks etc. Hmm.

SowZ

2014-12-02, 05:18 PM

No knowledge is useless.

At a very minimum, it will make you a more interesting conversationalist.

When I first read this, my brain added a comma after no.

Taet

2014-12-02, 05:24 PM

Yeah, for a moment I thought you meant the island. Is there such a thing as a Newfoundland-Labrador hybrid? Hmm...

I completely understand the idea of it being a nightmare. It usually is, since communal living is generally stigmatized, so it's mostly only done by organizations who are trying hard to save money. That results in the people who live there surviving in conditions of near-poverty, which reinforces the stigma. Most people in dorms sleep on futons, drink cheap beer, and eat instant ramen, but it's not the dorms that make life there tough, it's the tight budget they're on.

If all the billionaires in the world pooled their resources, instead of each living in hundred-room mansions with their own staff of servants, they could all live in a gigantic crystal spire with the world's best food court, and eat whatever they wanted, prepared by top chefs from around the world, for free every day, surrounded by cultural ambience and live performances. Instead of each owning dozens of boats, yachts, automobiles and private aircraft, together they could build a fleet of communal high performance suborbital craft, helicopters, limousines, and watercraft, able to outperform their old vehicles by a factor of ten.

They could have bedrooms that would make the Princess of the Pea jealous, soundproof walls, the most amazing (terrestrial) views the world has ever seen, the world's greatest security staff, and the most innovative exercise facilities ever built. What kind of architectural masterpiece do you build when you have a budget for a swimming pool that's a thousand times higher than the one for the average palatial mansion's, and a thousand billionaires watching your every move as they take your bid? I'd love to find out!

It's not very practical, and I would be distinctly terrified if the above happened, but I think it's a good illustration of the difference between the nightmare and the dream... Prosaically, that difference turns out to be "a lot of money", haha! I know a lot of people would still rather have their own house, kitchen, and vehicles, and spend their own money, even if the results were of lower objective quality and were underutilized. I would, too, out of sentiment if nothing else, except that I feel very guilty about owning things that I don't use very often. As a result, I'm strangely more comfortable with paying for things I don't own or use, while hoping that someone else gets to benefit from it. Ah, well.

I guess this does sound a bit like Google.
Sort of like the seniors who go Ok this keeping our own house thing is stupid, we are going to sell it off and go live on a cruise ship all year, it costs the same but it is much nicer and the weather is better too? :smallcool:

noparlpf

2014-12-02, 05:28 PM

Mm, to some degree, and again I bet it depends on the person. I'm personally pretty introverted: being constantly around other people is hard for me, it drains my energy, independent of how luxurious the conditions are. My budget got a lot tighter when I moved out of grad-school dorms into my own apartment, but being able to take a shower in privacy, and cook and eat on my own schedule and according to my own preferences, were so very worth it. (It helps that I actually enjoy cooking - it's a hobby as well as practical - and I'm good at cooking the kind of food I enjoy, so being told "you could pay (a small amount) to get other people to cook for you!" sort of comes across as "you could pay (a small amount) to get other people to play computer games for you!" Well sure I could but it sort of misses the point :smallwink:)

But I can see why other people might like it - I don't like driving or maintenance work on my house and car, so some aspects of your proposal do appeal to me :smallwink:

Personally I found renting an apartment to be cheaper than dorming (in undergrad anyway). It'll obviously vary by school, but at Stony Brook, my room and board were more expensive than my actual tuition. And even my cheap, dingy college student apartment was nicer than my dorm, and I could cook better food for a tiny fraction of the cost of the meal plan.

Asta Kask

2014-12-03, 07:17 AM

I would like to discuss theology with Alice Cooper. He seems like an intelligent, nice fellow and I would like to know where we differ. And I would like to tell him he's generally awesome.

Aedilred

2014-12-03, 08:25 AM

As Ifni says, the magic ingredients that make living privately better than living communally, are privacy, and being at least to an extent in control of your own space. Both are difficult to achieve in any sort of communal living environment, no matter how lavish. For those people who don't place a value on such things, there are options out there. For those who do, the savings in terms of cost and efficiency just aren't worth it.

Hyena

2014-12-03, 10:38 AM

Move to any other country. Not entirely possible for me unless I shape up and work for it, but hey, it's a dream.

Grinner

2014-12-03, 07:19 PM

If all the billionaires in the world pooled their resources, instead of each living in hundred-room mansions with their own staff of servants, they could all live in a gigantic crystal spire with the world's best food court, and eat whatever they wanted, prepared by top chefs from around the world, for free every day, surrounded by cultural ambience and live performances. Instead of each owning dozens of boats, yachts, automobiles and private aircraft, together they could build a fleet of communal high performance suborbital craft, helicopters, limousines, and watercraft, able to outperform their old vehicles by a factor of ten.

They could have bedrooms that would make the Princess of the Pea jealous, soundproof walls, the most amazing (terrestrial) views the world has ever seen, the world's greatest security staff, and the most innovative exercise facilities ever built. What kind of architectural masterpiece do you build when you have a budget for a swimming pool that's a thousand times higher than the one for the average palatial mansion's, and a thousand billionaires watching your every move as they take your bid? I'd love to find out!

Have you considered the ramifications of having so many bloated egos housed under the same roof? :smallwink:

The build-up of hot air might result in the thermodynamic equivalent of an atom bomb.

enderlord99

2014-12-04, 12:18 AM

Move to any other country.

Any other country? Even North Korea?

EDIT:
If all the billionaires in the world pooled their resources, instead of each living in hundred-room mansions with their own staff of servants, they could all live in a gigantic crystal spire with the world's best food court, and eat whatever they wanted, prepared by top chefs from around the world, for free every day, surrounded by cultural ambience and live performances. Instead of each owning dozens of boats, yachts, automobiles and private aircraft, together they could build a fleet of communal high performance suborbital craft, helicopters, limousines, and watercraft, able to outperform their old vehicles by a factor of ten.

They could have bedrooms that would make the Princess of the Pea jealous, soundproof walls, the most amazing (terrestrial) views the world has ever seen, the world's greatest security staff, and the most innovative exercise facilities ever built. What kind of architectural masterpiece do you build when you have a budget for a swimming pool that's a thousand times higher than the one for the average palatial mansion's, and a thousand billionaires watching your every move as they take your bid? I'd love to find out!

You're basically talking about an exaggerated version of One57, right?

Dwy

2014-12-04, 05:39 PM

I have wish to eventually, in not too many years, spend some time in the summer in Denmark.

I want to have a dog again, although circumstances are preventing me from it currently.

I want to go skiing. Or for a swim. Either really.

I want to paint something.

... I might not be the best at this dream thing.

Navian

2014-12-04, 10:30 PM

Have you considered the ramifications of having so many bloated egos housed under the same roof? :smallwink:

The build-up of hot air might result in the thermodynamic equivalent of an atom bomb.

Hahaha, yeah. This particular idea doesn't fall under the heading of 'practical', they'd never agree on what to spend money on or how to spend it. That's why we don't have floating cities already. But that's okay, aside from wanting to see the swimming pool, I don't think I'd really want a huge billionaires-only arcology to exist. That was the plot of the movie Elysium, and that didn't turn out very nice.

You're basically talking about an exaggerated version of One57, right?

I've never heard about this before, but apparently, yes! I'll have to keep my eye on New York in the next century...

Solse

2014-12-06, 05:30 PM

Xyk

2014-12-06, 10:23 PM

I think it's hilarious that the site censored the second half of your cat's species name in it's mouse-over text, OP.

Also, I've always wanted to solve a real-life mystery. Everything I see on TV mystery's seems at least plausible, and I want it to happen to me, so badly. I want a real-life note on an arrow to mysteriously appear next to my head when I wake up, (which it totally could, theoretically, at any given moment), and have it lead to a dilemma that relies solely on my intellect (for any number of totally plausible reasons), to save the day.

...

Forget you guys, it's gonna happen...

HalfTangible

2014-12-06, 11:57 PM

-To have a movie made from my books that absolutely everyone hates and another one that everybody loves
-To meet a fan of my book that brings up facts and details about my characters that I had completely forgotten. At that point you know you've made it.
-To read a fanfic based on my work and decide 'yup, this is canon now.'
-To own a coca cola factory
-Watch a house burn to the ground (don't worry, I would own the house and no one would be inside - i just wanna see that huge fire)
-Circumnavigate the planet in a private jet without stopping to land, and staying awake the whole trip
-Spend a night in prison for a crime I didn't commit (yeah, I dunno why either, it seems like it'd suck)

Oneris

2014-12-07, 01:44 AM

I aim to one day build a hand-mounter water hologram projector so I can appear to blast fire from my hands at conventions while merely sprinkling any potential victims with a gentle smoke-scented mist.

Also good for freaking out the neighbors while watering the plants.

GPuzzle

2014-12-07, 09:27 AM

Another practical but ridiculous dream I have is to move out of the country. To where, I don't know.

The other is to fully learn German but I don't think even Germans fully understand German.

Iruka

2014-12-08, 10:38 AM

The other is to fully learn German but I don't think even Germans fully understand German.

We really don't.

Winter_Wolf

2014-12-08, 05:17 PM

I want to travel the world with my phone and my laptop. I want to meet people, experience different places' cultures, and somehow still maintain a relatively luxurious life (I want to still have internet access and stay in hotels nicer than hostels). That is my ultimate goal in life.

Honestly you'd probably have a grander adventure without the phone and internet, or at least without the internet.

And yes, I've lived your dream (although I suspect my definition of "luxurious" diverges from your own quite a bit). It. Is. Awesome. You gotta do it.

HalfTangible

2014-12-08, 05:39 PM

I want to buy a mobile home and use it as... my home. Permanently.

blacklight101

2014-12-08, 06:58 PM

My dream is to open the old movie theater where I live back up, totally renovated. It closed down a handful of years ago (3-5, memory is fuzzy there) and no one has even tried to lease the place yet. I think there might only be three screens there, but it would make a great oldschool theater again. I would do the oldschool thing too, double feature nights and all.

I saw movies there every couple months there for a while before it closed down (they even played RHPS the first Wednesday of every month for longer than I can remember) and they played all sorts of little indie movies and low budget ones too. I blame big corporate movie theaters for it closing down- that and the old owners never advertised for some reason and wondered why the got less and less business.

So, yeah, my dream is to own the movie theater downtown and run that place like a champ. A guy can dream, right?