It's wild that the concept of retirement is also relatively new... I think it's only been around since the 60s where people started to outlive their productivity.
I'm sure balance is the answer... with your chronic illness I assume it gets worse when you've really been able to sleep, unable to eat healthily, etc... so yes, you could work all the time, then get sick and burnout, then be forced to rest and then get back to work... or you could maintain a consistent level of health and ultimately get more stuff done (counter-point: how many hours does Elon work a week?)
Or you could actually be a vampire and this post was entirely just to throw us off the scent... maybe people were starting to notice you never aging in Australia hey?
I can't imagine how many amazing discoveries the world has missed out on because a researcher died before they could find their answer...
"He retired" = Dead. :D
Balance is definitely key here, but there is an opportunity cost and a diminishing investment return. I feel like we are kind of encouraged to be selfish and work to feel as good as possible, even if it costs those around us.
It was all that bloody sun....
Yep. I also wonder how many could have been made, but people were too busy playing X-Box. It is one of those interesting questions I have often thought about where everyone says to relax and take time off - but if someone you loved was dying of cancer, would you want the person who was working on the most promising cure to have a Netflix addiction? It is their "right" of course, but it sets up an interesting conflict.
I think about this a lot too... but more from the angle that if we have all this entertainment that is constantly drip-feeding us dopamine - then surely we'll have entire generations that can't focus on anything for more than a few minutes. How will all the arts/sciences/literally anything that requires huge amounts of focus and dedication ever progress?
I don't know about your work... but at mine management is constantly talking about taking time off and recovering... and in the same breath tells people about all the work that needs to be accomplished by the deadline (and that people might need to work late hours/weekends to get it all done).
I'd have to imagine that the person with the most promising cancer cure would not have a Netflix addiction, surely it'd take years of focus and dedication to get to that point. We've seen it with the pandemic, medical professionals all around the world slogging their guts out to help everyone else.