Chip Off The Old Block

Chip Off The Old Block (astralcodexten.com)

2026-07-01 Wed | 73 points by paulpauper | original

[−]ngm7 · 2026-07-02 Thu 00:04 UTC · link

Among the many non-business related exploratory conversations me and my cofounder have was one around having He had always imagined a big part of getting older would be having a kid. It was always an established part of his imagination. Wheras I have never thought of them that way. Although I am absolutely delighted to be around my friends' kids, I am invested in my own nephew's future, somehow that has not been a part of my equation.

I relate so hard with Scott although I do not have a child. Something so small, something so dependent can exist and hold you arrested for breath has been a revelation of the kind watching fable 5 build cannot bring.

Either how, I guess I understand this only theoretically. Emotionally feeling something in the moment might be different.

(The related story of my cofounder becoming a father one month after joining me is enormously heart wrenching; for another time)

[−]luqtas · 2026-07-02 Thu 00:39 UTC · link

> hold you arrested for breath has been a revelation of the kind watching fable 5 build cannot bring

biology has it's tricks to keep us hooked into: basic things... why do you think heterosexuality is so common? having children as far neuroscience observed, makes you wired by hormonal changes for around 1-2 years! i don't think it's fair to compare to societal (thousands if not billions of humans effort) improvements, think like if we managed to eradicate poverty. that's nice. probably not a groundbreaking event for most HN. i probably was/will be more flooded of chemistry when my high-school crush held my hand to play Just Dance. doesn't remove the general impact and importance

once i think i heard in Darwin's podcast [0] a phrase like: everything that you learn till your mid 30s, it's a skill you can/may make a living of. and i guess that's pretty much it. being tied to something specially when you have your brain cooping is quite a tattoo. doesn't matter if having children is the biggest offender on climate impact (much more than having no cars, going vegan or not traveling by plane (all together)) [1]

[0] http://20objects.com/ [1] https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541/...

[−]thatguysaguy · 2026-07-02 Thu 00:58 UTC · link

Scott's parenting posts are some of his best

[−]nine_k · 2026-07-02 Thu 00:58 UTC · link

This is hilarious! Also corroborates my own experience (also as a father of two). Small kids are actually rather smart, but their very limited experience and thus the sensory and emotional overload (compared to adults) influence their view of the world mightily. This is on top of initially not knowing any language.

It's a great illustration how many things in a society grow from very natural, understandable, mmm, roots, which we as parents can directly see unfolding daily.

[−]treis · 2026-07-02 Thu 01:17 UTC · link

The fun thing to do is have a special week where none of these arguments apply. I did a camp papa with my 5 year old where the only rule was "be nice to papa".

We had ice cream three times in one day. Played video games as much as he wanted. By far his favorite part was when I bought him three 5 packs of hot wheels cars at the grocery store. To him it was like negotiating being paid a million bucks, then asking for a billion, and finally a trillion and getting it. To him just an utterly incomprehensible stroke of luck.

Then I lost him and you get to see the ugly downside of youth. Where he's not getting the childhood he deserves like you didn't. I started mentoring a teen in foster care and I get to watch him be the same dumb teenager I was. Feels like being on the other side of an eternal cycle that has gone back to the start of humanity.

[−]classichasclass · 2026-07-02 Thu 02:17 UTC · link

Okay, legal nerds: would the consumption of a cup of Gatorade count as usufruct? That sounds like abusus instead.

[−]delichon · 2026-07-02 Thu 02:23 UTC · link

I think it becomes abusus when you buy the Gatorade yourself and put it in your own fridge, but toddlers may dispute that.