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Tog's Paradox

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260 points adzicg | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.212s | source
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nine_k ◴[] No.41914693[source]
It looks almost as if humans have a nearly infinite backlog of things they would do if they only had time and capability, and a limit on the amount of effort they are capable of exerting per day. Then, once new tools increase their productivity and free up a bit of resources, they pick more desiderata from the backlog, and try to also accomplish that. Naturally they seek more tools for the newly-possible activities, and the loop closes.

This applies to any activity, leisure emphatically included. Travel became simpler → more vacations now involve flying a plane and thus obtaining tickets online and thus comparison-shopping, aggregating reviews of faraway places, etc → omg, vacation travel is complex again. It just allows to fulfill more of a dream.

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1. DrScientist ◴[] No.41923350[source]
The interesting question here of course is whether travelling the other side of the planet for a holiday ( and the people who live there travelling to somewhere near you! ) is better than going somewhere more local.

ie isn't the key trick, in both software and life, to distinguish between busy work, 'nice to have' new features and true value?